AUGUSTA — A Maine State Police officer who fired his gun in Jefferson last week has been authorized to return to work after a standard period of paid administrative leave for officers involved in shootings.

The officer, Sgt. Jason Madore, fired his weapon at a man who allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend in the arm outside a Jefferson home on Aug. 15. The man, 34-year-old Shane Prior, of Cushing, then led troopers on a short car chase that ended just over a mile away when he stopped his car on Route 32 and shot his handgun at them, officials said last week.

Madore fired three to four shots in return, police said.

The standoff ended when Prior then shot himself in the head, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner determined a day later.

The woman Prior shot in the arm, 30-year-old Michelle Creamer, of Cushing, was treated for her injuries that night.

As is standard after any officer-involved shooting in Maine, Madore was placed on paid administrative leave. Two agencies — the Maine State Police and the Office of the Maine Attorney General — are conducting separate investigations into the shooting.

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Madore was authorized to return to duty Wednesday, said Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. McCausland said he did not know when Madore’s next shift would be.

On Thursday morning, McCausland said, state police commissioned a panel of the agency’s lieutenants to perform an internal review of the shooting. McCausland said he did not know how long the review could take.

Information about the attorney general’s investigation was unavailable Thursday.

Madore is a 12-year veteran of the state police who works for Troop D in Augusta, McCausland said, and he’s a longtime member of the agency’s crisis negotiation team.

On the night of the incident, troopers went about 10 p.m. to 130 Somerville Road in Jefferson after Creamer called the police. She and Prior had just had a heated phone conversation, and as she got out of her car, he came out of the woods and grabbed her, pulled her down the driveway and shot her in the arm, police said. She ran into the house and called for help. Prior and Creamer’s two children, ages 6 and 10, were outside the home at the time of the incident but did not see the shooting and were not injured.

When troopers got to the scene, they set up operations outside the property because Prior was still in the driveway. He then fled the scene in his truck and troopers followed him, McCausland said. They pursued Prior for 1.3 miles before he stopped on his own off Route 32, McCausland said.

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Prior had a handgun, and he fired a shot in the direction of the troopers, McCausland said, and Madore returned three to four shots.

Prior then turned the gun on himself, dying from “a single, self-inflicted, gunshot wound to the head,” McCausland said shortly after an autopsy of Prior’s body was performed at the chief medical examiner’s office.

The domestic violence-related shooting recalled recent Maine cases that have resulted in the deaths of women and children caught in the crossfire.

In 2011 during an eight-day period, two domestic violence attacks in Dexter and Winslow left two women and two children dead. In both cases, the men who killed them also committed suicide.

Domestic violence has been the cause of about half of all homicides in the state over the last couple years, according to data collected and reported by the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel. From 2014 to 2015, 24 of the state’s 46 homicide victims died at the hands of family members or intimate partners.

Furthermore, perpetrators in 16 cases the group considered for its latest report were more likely to commit suicide, with nine threatening suicide before or after the attack and six committing suicide afterward.

Charles Eichacker — 621-5642

ceichacker@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @ceichacker


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