AUGUSTA — What did Paul T. Stevens see?
That’s the question posed by his uncle, Glenwood Shaw, who lives across the street from where James F. Popkowski was shot and killed by law enforcement officers on the Togus Veterans Affairs hospital grounds on July 8.
Stevens, 42, of Belgrade has come forward recently with his observations of the shooting, saying Popkowski – a Marine upset with his treatment by the VA for a rare malady – had pointed his gun away from police when he was shot.
His vantage point on the shooting site, an area where thick woods surround a water pumping station, was from Shaw’s driveway. Shaw, at the time of the shooting, was on the porch of his home.
“The path is fairly narrow,” Shaw said on Tuesday. “I don’t know how he could actually see two fellows standing on the path.”
Shaw said he knows the area of the shooting scene well; he often rides his four-wheeler in the wooded area.
“Once I go back by that rock, you can’t see anything,” Shaw said, describing a boulder located about 20 feet from the start of the woods.
But even if the woods weren’t so thick, Shaw added, it’s hard to believe that someone could have had an unobstructed view of Popkowski from his driveway.
Stevens, when contacted Tuesday, declined to comment on his uncle’s claims and criticized news coverage of the initial incident. His attorney, Pamela Ames, also declined to comment.
Stevens has said he recorded the shooting on his cell phone. He declined multiple requests to share the video, however.
The video is now in Ames’ possession, according to the Bangor Daily News, and a copy has been provided to the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Stevens has had been in legal trouble in recent weeks.
On Aug. 25, Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies and Oakland police searched his home and seized 19 mature marijuana plants, growing equipment and “a couple ounces” of processed marijuana, according to Sheriff Randall Liberty.
Stevens, who was not home during the search, was issued a summons Aug. 26, charging him with marijuana cultivation, said Liberty.
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