WALES — A man was shot and killed early Monday morning in a confrontation with a state trooper in the Androscoggin County town of Wales, according to a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
William N. Derick, 54, was shot and killed at his mobile home at 485 Pond Road in Wales, according to a statement released to news media by spokesman Stephen McCausland. The shooting occurred after police were called to the home off Route 132 Sunday night for a report of a domestic violence incident in which a gunshot had been fired at a woman, McCausland said. The woman was not injured.
The state trooper who killed Derick was identified as James MacDonald, a seven-year veteran who is a member of the State Police Tactical Team.
Information on Derick’s Facebook page says he works for the carnival — “I’m a Carnie” — and that he graduated from Oak Hill High School and is married.
Sharon Seigel, treasurer and office manager for the Town of Wales, confirmed those details separately by telephone on Monday. Seigel, who knew Derick from her work with the town, said he was a veteran, and his Facebook page says he was a former repair mechanic at the U.S. Navy.
Seigel said along with doing videos with drones, Derick also did some DJ work for social events. “He was active in the American Legion,” she said. “Bill was a very kind-hearted fellow.”
She said he was known for his bald head, his tan and his penchant for wearing John Lennon-style sunglasses.
Seigel also said both Derick and his wife, Carrie Mccoy, grew up in Wales.
State police — including negotiators and members of the tactical team — responded to the home and attempted to make contact with Derick for several hours, McCausland said. At about 3:30 a.m. Monday there was an armed confrontation and a member of the tactical team shot and killed Derick. No police officers were injured.
Route 132 was closed most of the night from Bull Run Road to Center Road and reopened later Monday. Derick’s body was taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, McCausland said.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office is investigating the incident, which is standard procedure in all police-involved shootings.
MacDonald has been placed on administrative leave with pay as the attorney general’s office reviews the shooting, which is standard.
As of January 2018, the Attorney General’s Office reported 53 officer involved shootings in Maine from Jan. 1, 2012, to Dec. 2017, resulting in 28 deaths.
An investigator is seen Monday outside a mobile home in Wales where 54-year-old William N. Derick, who lived there at 485 Pond Road, was shot and killed by State Trooper James MacDonald.
‘THEY’RE NICE PEOPLE’
Around 1 p.m. Monday, yellow caution tape hung across the front of Derick’s property and investigators from the Maine State Police were walking in and out of the single wide unit, which was painted barn red with white trim.
Old furniture was piled on the front lawn, next to a small green shed, and a maroon van with bumper stickers was parked in the driveway. Two large signs were stuck to the front of the home, one on top of the other, with the phrases “Space Out” and “Defies Gravity” spelled in block letters. A fake road sign was planted at the end of the short driveway, declaring it “Harms Way.”
Two neighbors who live just a couple hundred feet down the road, Rosemary and Greg Johnson, said that Derick was married to a woman who also lived at the home, but they didn’t know the couple well and had never been aware of any arguments between them.
Police have not identified the woman Derick allegedly fired a weapon at on Sunday.
The Johnsons are siblings who grew up on Pond Road, and on Monday afternoon they were preparing a garden on one of their family properties, which overlooks Sabattus Pond.
The Johnsons still live in homes on that road, and the only nuisance that Greg Johnson can recall was that Derick sometimes lit fireworks late at night. The noise disrupted the neighbor’s sleep, and he worried about a fire being sparked.
Greg Johnson, 62, also has heard from other people that Derick sometimes walked down the street late at night talking to himself, but Johnson never observed it himself.
Derick moved to the neighborhood with his parents decades ago, around 1970, the Johnsons said. They came from Massachusetts. Derick’s father died several years ago, but his mother, Wilma Derick still lives on Pond Road, according to the Johnsons.
“They’re nice people,” Greg Johnson said of the parents. “I feel for Mrs. Derick,” he added, referring to Wilma Derick.
William Derick has a scant criminal history, according to a statewide records search. He was arrested Feb. 28, 2012, by Auburn police on a Class E misdemeanor charge of theft of services, found guilty, and fined $50.
‘A SAD SITUATION’
The Johnsons also expressed shock and concern that the shooting could have happened in their neighborhood, which they consider to be especially safe and quiet.
“We wish it didn’t happen,” said Rosemary Johnson, who is 68. While she thinks William Derick probably did something bad, she questioned whether police had to stop him with a fatal gunshot.
“I’m sure the police did what they had to,” said her younger brother.
Randall Greenwood, a Wales selectman and former legislator, said Monday he knew Derick’s family.
“I knew his dad well and I know his mom well.” Greenwood said on Monday.
“It is a sad situation,” he added, referring to the shooting.
Greenwood said Derick was very active making videos with his drones.
“He was always doing video up and down Sabattus Lake with his drones,” Greenwood said. “From where he lived, you could almost see the lake.”
Greenwood said he believed that was Derick’s hobby.
A woman answering the phone at the home of Wilma Derick, Willam Derick’s mother, who lives across Pond Road from her son’s house told a reporter on Monday, “Excuse me, do not call this number again.”
The phone number listed for William N. Derick’s home was disconnected.
Staff writer Betty Adams contributed reporting.
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