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Trooper justified in shooting man, Maine AG says

The shooting stemmed from a confrontation between a Thorndike man and police in November 2019.

THORNDIKE, Maine — Maine's attorney general said Friday a state trooper was justified in shooting and wounding a man in 2019.

The shooting stemmed from a confrontation between a Thorndike man and police in November 2019. Police responded to a call from a woman who was concerned that the man was yelling outside her house.

Trooper Thomas Bureau II and another trooper positioned themselves outside a house and called out the man, according to Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey. When the man emerged, Bureau saw what he believed to be a stun gun and a pistol in the man's hands, Frey said.

The man's gun turned out to be a pepper spray gun.

Bureau fired two rounds from his handgun after the man aimed his weapons at Bureau, Frey said. The man survived his injuries and was later indicted for criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and terrorizing with a dangerous weapon. He was convicted of criminal threatening in 2021.

Frey said in his report that Bureau reasonably believed the man was about to use deadly force against him. He also said Bureau's perception the pepper spray gun was a pistol was reasonable because of limited lighting and the man's assertion it was a handgun.

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