PORTLAND

AG probe: Marshals justified in shooting Biddeford man

The Maine Attorney General’s Office says two law enforcement officers met the legal threshold for using deadly force during a shootout on a Portland sidewalk.

Investigators said Friday that U.S. Deputy Marshal Michael Tenuta and Special U.S. Deputy Marshal John Gill, part of a violent-offender task force, each fired four times after Arien L’Italien of Biddeford fired at them as they attempted to arrest him on Jan. 27 in Portland.

L’Italien, who was shot in the leg, is in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges including assaulting a federal officer and being a felon in possession of a gun.

Following the shootout, L’Italien made the news again when he managed to sneak out of his jail cell to have a tryst with a female inmate.

WISCASSET

Police: Woman who shot boyfriend feared he’d leave

A Waldoboro woman accused of killing her boyfriend told police she shot him because she feared he was leaving her for another woman.

That’s according to a police affidavit filed in Lincoln County Superior Court.

The Bangor Daily News reports that Arline Lawless, who is also known as Arline Seavey, is scheduled to appear in court Friday on a murder charge for allegedly killing Norman Benner in July.

Detectives arrested Seavey, 25, on Wednesday as she was being discharged from a psychiatric hospital in Westbrook.

Benner’s body was discovered in the couple’s home when family members went to check on him on July 23. He had been shot in the head. Police say Seavey also shot herself.

LEBANON

Firefighters cut branches, climb tree to free skydiver

Firefighters say it took more than two hours to free a skydiver who landed in a tree.

They say the 28-year-old man from Somerville, Mass., jumped from an airplane from 13,000 feet. After free-falling for one and a half miles, he opened his parachute. When he looked down, he saw a big cloud.

Eli Bolotin at Skydive New England said the man correctly steered around the cloud and chose to land in some trees Thursday afternoon rather than some smaller fields. Bolotin said it’s safer.

The skydiver was stuck 50 to 60 feet above ground in Lebanon. Firefighters from nearby Milton and Rochester, N.H., provided a ladder and high-angle rescue equipment. They had to cut some branches and climb the tree to get to him.

The skydiver was not injured.

POLAND

Police look for three suspects who assaulted man in home

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department is searching for three masked men it says were involved in a home invasion in the Maine town of Poland.

Authorities say three men forced their way into a home at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, tied up and assaulted the male resident, then made off with some cash.

No weapons were used or displayed. The victim was not seriously hurt.

The suspects were described as black men wearing dark clothing, gloves, ski masks and carrying backpacks. The suspects left on foot and were last seen on Route 122 in Poland.

A search with the help of dogs did not locate the suspects, although some evidence the suspects dropped was recovered.

Investigators do not believe this was a random act.

BRUNSWICK

Car dealer to host exhibit about black military pilots

A traveling exhibit dedicated to telling the story of the obstacles that black military pilots and their ground support crews overcame to fight in World War II will be in Brunswick next week.

The “Rise Above” traveling exhibit will be at the Bill Dodge Auto Group, 262 Bath Road, on Wednesday and Thursday — just before the opening of the 2012 Great State of Maine Air Show, which will run from Aug. 24-26 at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.

Suzanne Krauss, deputy air show director, said the exhibit is sponsored by the Commemorative Air Force Red Tail Squadron whose pilots and planes will perform during the three-day-long airshow.

The traveling exhibit, which is housed inside a 53-foot-long trailer, will feature a 30-minute documentary film, “Rise Above.”

The film tells the inspirational story behind the Tuskegee Airmen — the first black U.S. Army Air Corps pilots.

LEWISTON

Filmmakers hope for crowd as they film in vacant church

A vacant church is about to come back to life in a movie.

The makers of “Richard 3,” a comedy of Shakespeare’s scheming, hunchback King Richard III, hope to pack several hundred people in St. Patrick’s Church in Lewiston for a coronation scene.

The Sun Journal says “Richard 3” is written and directed by Buckfield entertainer Michael Miclon, who also stars in the low-budget film.

Miclon says he has 200 extras for the scene next week but that he wouldn’t mind having about 600 more.

Plans call for shooting to last about 30 days total. He and Jay Childs, co-editor and director of photography, plan to submit the finished movie to the Sundance Film Festival.

WASHINGTON

Conservative group’s office targeted by gunman in D.C.

The executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine says a conservative lobbying group in Washington, D.C., was targeted by a gunman this week because of its “support of traditional marriage.”

A gunman who authorities say was critical of the Family Research Council’s positions opened fire Wednesday inside the lobby of its Washington headquarters, wounding a guard.

Carroll Conley Jr. from the Christian Civic League says “senseless violence” will likely continue as gay marriage opponents are referred to as “hate groups or bigots.” The league is one group fighting a proposal that would legalize gay marriage in Maine.

Conley said he’s visited the Family Research Council’s headquarters several times and knew the security guard who was shot. The guard survived and the gunman was charged.

 

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