UPDATE, 3:49 p.m.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office has identified the victim of this morning’s fatal shooting as James F. Popkowski, 37, of Medway.
Additional Photos
The law enforcement officers who shot Popkowski were Togus police officer Thomas Park and Maine Warden Service Sgt. Ron Dunham. Another member of the warden service, Joey Lefebrve, witnessed the confrontation, but wasn’t involved with the shooting, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy on Popkowski on Friday.
3:17 p.m.
AUGUSTA — One person is dead after a shooting involving police and an armed veteran near the Togus Veterans Affairs medical complex this morning.
Kate Simmons, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said in a news release the shooting came as a result of a confrontation between the unidentified veteran, a Togus police officer and two game wardens.
“The game wardens witnessed the confrontation and stopped to aid the officer from Togus,” Simmons said. “The armed individual, a male who was not a resident or staff person at the facility, was fatally injured.”
There were no other injuries, Simmons said. Authorities said the name of the dead man will be withheld until family members can be notified.
Police from multiple agencies descended on Eastern Avenue after the shooting, which took place within sight of the Togus entrance. Simmons’ news release said the shooting occurred “at the Route 17 gate of the Togus Veterans Affairs Medical Center.”
Togus spokesman James Doherty said employees of the veterans’ hospital reported hearing gunshots in the woods while on break shortly after 9 a.m.
The hospital went into lockdown following the shooting.
“All the patients, and all the staff, are fine,” Doherty said.
Police draped yellow tape along a portion of the roadside and in front of a water pumping station. A portable lab from the State Police Crime Investigation Division parked nearby.
Attorney General Janet Mills and her chief investigator, Brian MacMaster, arrived shortly after the shooting.
“We believe (the shots) were near the facility. There’s no evidence that he was shooting randomly in the woods,” Mills said. “It’s also consistent with our information that he was carrying (the weapon) in a threatening manner.”
Mills said she did not know whether the dead man fired at officers.
Mills said the area is not a hunting area, but neighbors said they frequently see hunters in the area and people riding all-terrain vehicles. It is unclear if the shooting took place on private or federal property.
“I’m sure they’re being debriefed and trying to get their wits about them,” Mills said of the involved officers. “It’s not an easy thing.”
Paul Stevens, of Belgrade, who was visiting an uncle, Glenwood Shaw, who lives at 791 Eastern Ave., across the street from where the shooting took place, said he heard shots being fired as if someone were hunting. Stevens, who said he is a National Rifle Association instructor, said the shots appeared to come from a .22-caliber rifle.
Stevens said a tall, thin, older man wearing a plaid shirt was walking out of the woods carrying a gun. Stevens said the man appeared to be headed toward a pickup, as a Maine Game Warden and Togus police officer arrived.
“It was just like he was casually walking down the trail,” Stevens said.
The wardens and Togus officer ordered the man to drop his weapon, Stevens said.
A few moments later there was a series of shots, Stevens said. He said one of the bullets appeared to hit the unidentified man in the neck and head area.
The pickup truck reportedly belonging to the man, a green Toyota Tacoma with veterans’ plates, remained at the scene for several hours. Shaw said the pickup truck is often parked in the area and had been there several hours Thursday morning prior to the incident.
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