The Dollar General store in Limerick was the scene of an officer-involved shooting Friday night. An employee of Burke ER, an emergency restoration service, was at the store on Saturday. John Ewing/Staff Photographer
LIMERICK — Citing the continuing investigation, the Maine Attorney General’s Office said Saturday it was releasing no new information about the fatal officer-involved shooting Friday night in Limerick.
An officer with the York County Sheriff’s Office shot and killed a suspect at the Dollar General store on Washington Street, authorities said. But what led to the incident, as well as the names of those involved, is being withheld.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Marc Malon, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said in an email. “We are not able to release the names of those involved at this time, nor any details about the incident itself.”
York County Sheriff William King did not respond to a request for an interview Saturday.
Authorities blocked off Washington Street after the shooting Friday night, but by Saturday afternoon the roadway was clear. The store was closed as crime-scene cleaners in white suits marked off the entrance with blue tape.
Richard Racicot, pastor at Faith Christian Center in Limerick, and members of his congregation were at a church function across the street from the officer-involved shooting Friday night at the Dollar General store. John Ewing/Staff Photographer
Neighbors who came to their doors on Saturday said they didn’t see what unfolded Friday night. But Richard Racicot, pastor at Faith Christian Center, said that a commotion interrupted services at his church across the street from the store.
“We didn’t see anything, but we heard something all right,” he said.
Parishioners were reading psalms and playing music when noise from across the street started to break in. Some younger members said they heard gunshots.
But the congregation wasn’t overly shaken by the incident. Many feel safe because they carry firearms themselves, Racicot said.
“We’re that right-wing, gun-toting, Bible-thumping kind of church,” he said.
It’s standard practice in officer-involved shootings that the Attorney General’s Office investigate whether the use of force was justified.
There have now been eight officer-involved shootings in Maine this year. There were five in 2018, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
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