UPDATE: The man involved in the standoff has died. The attorney general’s office will be investigating the death.
[Suspect dead following lengthy standoff in Orrington]
ORRINGTON, Maine — An armed Johnson Mill Road man was engaged in a standoff with police for at least 7½ hours on Tuesday, police said.
Penobscot County sheriff’s deputies were negotiating Monday evening with the man who had barricaded himself in his home, according to Sheriff Troy Morton.
Deputies went to the home, which is several houses down from the corner of Johnson Mill Road and Center Drive, after the man called Penobscot Regional Communication Center about 1:30 p.m. and threatened police, according to the sheriff.
“We have information to believe that there are some firearms in the house,” the sheriff said at a news conference at the scene. “Based on [what was] communicated to the dispatch center, we feel that these are serious threats, but everyone in the area is safe.”
The sheriff said the man was alone in the house.
At least two dozen State and Brewer police and Penobscot County sheriff’s deputies were at the scene as of 9 p.m. By then, however, an ambulance had arrived and some personnel were beginning to leave.
Morton declined to say what kind of weapon or weapons the man had inside the home. The sheriff also said that he did not believe shots had been fired.
Nearby houses had been evacuated and a section of Johnson Mill Road had been shut down, Morton said.
“We continue to work with all the residents in the area to make sure that all are sheltered in place, or have left the area,” he said.
Two families, totaling eight people, had been relocated to a local hotel for the night, Orrington firefighters said.
Earlier in the day, the nearby Center Drive School went into a “soft lockdown” after receiving a call from the sheriff’s office that there “was a threat in the local area,” according to an email sent to parents from Principal Judith Marvin.
The school was notified at 2:15 p.m. that the situation had been contained and children could be taken home by bus or by parents, the principal said. After-school activities were canceled.
“‘Soft lockdown’ means that all exterior doors to the school are locked as usual and that students will remain inside the building and visitors will be limited until the threat has been contained,” Marvin said in the email. “All students and staff were safe to move through the building during this time. It is important to understand that all students and staff were safe and that this was simply a precautionary action in compliance with requests from law enforcement.”
Most neighbors said they were bewildered by what was going on. Their first indication of problems was either the appearance of sheriff’s deputies in their neighborhood or notices posted on Facebook. The school email also set off alarms.
This was the second time in recent years that the neighborhood had been the scene of a standoff. In April 2011, Stephen Nason, then 25, barricaded himself in his bedroom at his mother’s residence on Johnson Mill Road. He eventually surrendered and was arrested on charges of domestic assault, criminal mischief, violation of terms of release and creating a police standoff.
If you have been evacuated by law enforcement due to the situation in Orrington, please contact the Fire Department at 825-3530.
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