CHESTER, Maine — Three state police officers who ended a more than six-hour standoff in September by killing a man armed with a large knife used deadly force reasonably and in self-defense, the state attorney general’s office announced Thursday.
Shad Gerken, 35, of Woodville died of 20 to 26 wounds in a hail of rounds fired by state police tactical team members Sgt. Nicholas Grass, Sgt. Donald Shead and Det. Greg Mitchell on Sept. 26 in woods off Woodville Road, officials said.
“It was reasonable for each officer to believe it necessary to use deadly force to protect himself and others from deadly force. The attorney general’s conclusions are based on an extensive forensic investigation, on interviews with numerous individuals, and on a thorough review of all evidence made available from any source,” according to the attorney general’s office’s statement.
The shots were fired after the failure of several attempts to disarm or subdue Gerken with nonlethal force. Those included four Taser shots, three foam baton strikes, several pressurized water bursts from a fire hose and many more doses of pepper spray, officials said.
Hours of talks with Maine State Police Crisis Negotiation Team members also failed. Negotiators consulted a psychologist who said Gerken’s mental health history included diagnoses or medications for bipolar, post-traumatic stress and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, plus depression and alcohol abuse, officials said.
“During the course of the standoff, Mr. Gerken remained largely silent except for a few outbursts during which he stated that he had the power of lightning, that Satan had raped his father, that he had killed Satan, that he was the angel of death, and other [things],” the attorney general’s press statement read.
Police were first drawn to the area by reports of Gerken waving a knife at passers-by and threatening to kill an 8-year-old child on Woodville Road when she walked to the end of her grandparents’ driveway to retrieve their mail. A motorist later reported seeing Gerken walking the road speaking of a “war eagle” and of “death in the air” and drinking swamp water from a one-gallon jug.
The officers fired after the failure of several plans to take Gerken into custody. Gerken had again ignored repeated warnings that he was under arrest and to relinquish the knife when officers fired a foam baton round and a fire hose, and the encircling Shead, Sgt. Peter Michaud, Grass, and Mitchell moved toward him, officials said.
Gerken lunged at Shead and Mitchell “aggressively with the knife raised over his head pointing downward.” Shead responded by firing several times at Gerken, who was about 15 feet from the officers and advancing, officials said.
Gerken fell forward to within a few feet of the officers and, despite several commands to stay down, started to get up, still armed with the knife. Shead fired at him again as Mitchell and Grass fired several rounds and Gerken collapsed for the last time, officials said.
An autopsy revealed that Gerken had Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disorder that can create hypothyroidism, a condition that sometimes has psychotic side effects and is a condition that commonly coexists with mental illness, officials said.
Gerken had no prior criminal record. He was, however, charged a month earlier with 10 counts of animal cruelty for allegedly failing to care for several dogs kept at his residence in Woodville. He had been hospitalized six months before his death for reportedly suffering from delusional thinking.
Under state law, deadly force is permissible if those using it “actually and reasonably believe that deadly force is imminently threatened” against them or others. They must also reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary to counter that imminent threat, officials said.
Police can be permitted deadly force “based on the totality of their circumstances and must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene.” This judgment also must allow “for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second decisions about the amount of force necessary in a given situation,” officials said.
Gerken’s Ohio-based relatives had questioned in the days after the shooting whether the shooting was justified.