WATERVILLE — An armed man was found dead after a standoff with police that began Tuesday afternoon with reports of gunfire and ended early Wednesday morning after a police tactical team entered and searched a vacant building.

Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey said James Croxford, 23, a transient, was found dead with a weapon next to him at about 4 a.m. Wednesday in the basement of the vacant office building at 8 Highwood St.

Waterville police received several reports of shots fired at about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Massey said. Police cordoned off the area between Hazelwood Avenue and Highwood Street where the gunshots had been reported.

Officers heard shots coming from inside the vacant, brick building, Massey said. As they approached, the shooter broke a window, officers heard a shot and saw the barrel of a shotgun poking out. They retreated and called for more units to set up a perimeter.

Around 6:30 p.m., officers heard two more shots come from inside the building.

At a media briefing later Tuesday evening, Massey said that multiple agencies, including the Maine State Police tactical unit, were responding and that no injuries had been reported at that time. The shooter was contained inside the building, but was not in custody as of 9 p.m.

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About 25 nearby residents, most from the Home Place Inn, were relocated Tuesday night as the situation unfolded.

The brick building has three floors and a basement, and police concluded that the state police tactical team was not large enough to enter and search the building safely, police said. Portland Police Department was called and dispatched its tactical unit.

Police used a state police drone and robot to try to locate the shooter. Negotiations were attempted throughout the night, police said.


Lynn and Mitchell Berry’s home around 4:30 p.m. Aug. 25, 2020, when shots started going off in their Waterville neighborhood.

Around 4 a.m., tactical units entered the building and started clearing each floor. Croxford was found in the basement.

Police were waiting Wednesday for the state Medical Examiner’s Office to confirm the cause of death. The incident is still under investigation, and investigators are trying to determine a motive, and to find out what Croxford was doing before he started shooting.

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Massey said about 50 officers were at the scene during the standoff, but that getting into the building had been difficult.

“One side of the building made it very problematic logistics-wise, making it very difficult to breach and go in safely,” he said.

He added that the Waterville department does not have the resources needed for an incident like this and couldn’t have been handled it without the assistance of other agencies, including the Maine State Police, Fairfield, Oakland, Winslow and Clinton police departments, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Waterville Fire and Rescue, and Delta Ambulance.

“No one was hurt,” Massey said. “No officers were hurt, and we are very pleased that no one else was injured. This is a very tragic, unfortunate incident.”

Croxford was arrested last November on an aggravated assault charge, Massey said. Police also had dealings with him a few weeks ago, but no charges were filed.

For a couple who live next door to the brick building, the incident started early Monday morning.

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At around 2:30 a.m. Monday, Lynn Berry said, she called police after hearing windows being broken inside the vacant building.

“It woke me up,” Lynn Berry said. “Starting on the back side of the building, it almost sounded like a nail gun. It was a loud noise. My windows were open, and then we started hearing shots on the front side of the building. I shut my windows. Glass was hitting our house.”

Mitchell and Lynn Berry stand outside their residence adjacent to the vacant building on Highwood Street in Waterville on Wednesday. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

On Tuesday afternoon, Lynn Berry said she and her husband, Mitchell Berry, were notified of the standoff and told they could not return home from work.

James Croxford Waterville Police photo

Just after 4:26 p.m., Berry said, a security camera on her property picked up the sound of gunshots from the rear of the vacant building. On of her two dogs was barking out the windows on the side of the house facing the building. A moment later, gunshots were fired at the Berrys’ residence, almost striking the dog and smashing several windows, Lynn Berry said.

“It appeared that he targeted (the dog,)” Lynn Berry said. “He broke that window, and you see the rifle barrel point out the window right at her head.”

Berry said that she and her husband returned to their house around 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.

“The police did communicate with us,” she said. “They had our information because we had called them on Monday at 2:30 in the morning because somebody was in that building breaking windows.”

Berry added that she was glad she wasn’t home when the standoff began because she knew the noise would have also brought her to the window the shots came through. She spent Wednesday morning with some friends and her husband cleaning up the mess at their home, getting their windows replaced and making an insurance claim. Their television, dining room trim, and built-in hutch were also damaged, she said.

James Croxford Waterville Police photo

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