Two people called Rockland police to report statements a local man made about school shootings and guns in the months before he triggered a districtwide school lockdown last week, dispatch records show.

Brandon Luzzi, 62, of Thomaston Street continues to undergo mental health evaluation and treatment and has not been charged with a crime. He allegedly told a friend that he heard voices in his head telling him to “do a school shooting.” The friend notified police the morning of May 29, prompting the lockdown at schools in Rockland and in surrounding communities, while officers confronted and detained Luzzi. After obtaining a search warrant, police seized seven guns, mostly hunting weapons, from his home, along with various types of ammunition.

A review of police dispatch records obtained by the Portland Press Herald through a public records request showed that it wasn’t the first time he had mentioned his paranoid feelings, firearms and school shootings.

The first call came Sept. 14, 2017, from Joseph Dady, who identified himself as a friend of Luzzi’s.

“Brandon acts paranoid frequently, but today stated that he ‘lives in a house across from this school where another guy went crazy, and I have guns,'” Dady told a dispatcher, according to the records.

The dispatcher assigned the call to Rockland Police Officer John Bagley at 11:25 a.m. Bagley responded and cleared the scene 35 minutes later.

Police have previously indicated they had contact with Luzzi, but had declined to describe the nature of the calls. The dispatch information provides a window into the contact police had with Luzzi before he was taken into custody.

In the second call, which was received April 20, 2018, at 11:01 a.m., someone from the Rockland Red Cross reported a string of disturbing statements by Luzzi.

“Brandon Luzzi has been making statements about being exposed to wave radar and hears voices,” according to a description contained in the dispatch records. “Talked about devices implanted. Has mentioned something about school shooting – software to induce one. Would like to speak to an officer about this.”

Rockland Police Officer Andrew Redden responded.

‘VERY RECEPTIVE’ TO TREATMENT

There is no indication in the records of what followed the calls or what actions police took in response.

Luzzi’s mother, Chevala DeLorenze, said she was unaware of the previous reports about her son, but that upon hearing the reports, she said it seemed to verify the police version of events – that he was hearing voices.

DeLorenze said she spoke with Luzzi this week, and that he is still at Pen Bay Medical Center, where he is cooperating with doctors as they try therapy and medication.

“I can’t tell you how much better he sounds,” DeLorenze said. “They’re trying medications and he’s very receptive and up to that.”

Luzzi has not been charged with a crime, but he remains hospitalized and could face one count of felony terrorizing if he is released, police have said. Any decision about whether to charge him will fall to the Knox County district attorney.

There had been other, earlier calls, as well, involving Luzzi’s address, but none seemed to point to behavior connected to his alleged school threat.

In one 2016 call, Luzzi phoned police to report he was having a disagreement with a “lady friend” who refused to leave his house and was insisting that she sleep in a spare bedroom. No officers were dispatched.

In another call in 2016, it appeared that Luzzi reported a case of suspected criminal mischief.

In two instances, Luzzi showed up at the police station, first in November 2016, and asked to speak to an officer about something personal. He again appeared at the police station in 2017 and asked to make out a victim report.

In both of those cases, no further information was provided, and portions of the records that may have categorized the calls were redacted.

ELEVEN OFFICERS FANNED OUT TO SCHOOLS

On the morning of the lockdown after police received the tip from another friend of Luzzi’s about the threats he allegedly made, at least 11 police officers were scrambled to the area’s schools.

Once the security was in place, Bagley, the Rockland officer, approached Luzzi’s home and spoke with him in his front yard.

Luzzi told Bagley about the voices and that he had at least one hunting rifle in the house, but said “he is able to keep the voices at bay and is of no harm to anyone,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed in connection with the case.

Luzzi tried to go back into his house, but police took him into protective custody. Police entered Luzzi’s home after obtaining the search warrant, finding seven firearms, a flare gun and ammunition.

Officers seized a Marlin model 60 semi-automatic rifle, an H&R 16-gauge shotgun, a Browning 0.30-06 rifle, a Savage 110CJ .270-caliber rifle, a Weatherby Mark 5 .30-06 rifle, a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, a Winchester model 94 rifle and an orange flare gun. The weapons are being kept at the Rockland Police Department.

Matt Byrne can be contacted at 791-6303 or at:

mbyrne@pressherald.com

Twitter: MattByrnePPH