DOVER-FOXCROFT — Two men were shot to death Tuesday morning — one of them by a state trooper — in a series of events that began at a nursing home and ended at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds.
Udo Schneider, 53, of Sangerville, was shot and killed outside the Hilltop Manor nursing home about 9 a.m., according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
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Schneider reportedly was shot by Michael Curtis, 46, also of Sangerville, who then left in his pickup truck.
The truck was spotted at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds, where police confronted Curtis, who was shot and killed by State Trooper Jon Brown, McCausland said.
Investigators said Schneider and Curtis knew each other, but police were still attempting to determine what sparked the violence, McCausland said.
Schneider was employed at the nursing home as a maintenance worker and Curtis worked for the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office, McCausland said. Curtis was described as a radio dispatcher for the department in prior reports in area newspapers.
McCausland said by late afternoon Tuesday investigators had not yet determined the relationship between the two men and the motive for the initial shooting.
“Schneider was shot multiple times,” McCausland said.
Brown, who joined the State Police in 2008, has been placed on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure, he said.
Brenda Kielty, spokeswoman for the Office of Attorney General, said the office is investigating Curtis’ death because a police officer was involved in the shooting. State police are cooperating in that investigation, McCausland said.
A team of state police detectives is investigating Schneider’s death, McCausland said.
Autopsies on both men are scheduled at the state medical examiner’s office.
Curtis’s shooting death is the third officer-involved shooting this month in the state.
U.S. Army veteran Justin Crowley-Smilek, 28, of Farmington, was shot and killed by a police officer Nov. 19 in front of the Farmington municipal building on U.S. Route 2.
Crowley-Smilek was shot multiple times by Farmington police Officer Ryan Rosie. Police said Crowley-Smilek had a knife and had threatened the Rosie.
On Nov. 10 in Rumford, a Maine Warden shot an administrative officer with the Rumford Police Department.
Maine Warden Jeremy Judd, 34, shot Rumford officer Eric Richard, 46, during what police described as an armed confrontation.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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