AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine attorney general’s office Monday found a Maine State Police trooper was justified in using deadly force when he shot and killed Lewis Conlogue, 49, of LaGrange during a standoff last summer in the parking lot of a former restaurant in the Penobscot County town.
“Attorney General Janet T. Mills has concluded that at the time Sgt. Scott Hamilton shot Mr. Conlogue, Sgt. Hamilton reasonably believed that unlawful deadly force was imminently threatened against him and other persons within range of the weapon brandished by Mr. Conlogue,” the news release issued by Mills’ office announcing the decision stated. “Sgt. Hamilton acted in defense of himself and others who were within range of and in the line of fire of Mr. Conlogue’s gun.”
Conlogue was about 200 feet from the trooper, according to the report. He died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, the autopsy report stated.
The shooting occurred near 5572 Bennoch Road, also Route 16, outside the former Highland Farm Restaurant after a three-hour standoff with police, according to a previously published report. Penobscot County sheriff’s deputies and Maine State Police received a report of a suicide threat involving a man with a weapon around 4 p.m. Aug. 3.
Conlogue was armed with a handgun, loaded magazine and a large knife, the report said. He repeatedly pointed the gun at troopers and refused requests to relinquish the firearm, according to the attorney general’s office.
The attorney general has investigated 69 police-involved shootings in Maine since 2003 and found them all justified.