NORRIDGEWOCK — A Smithfield man faces multiple charges after brandishing a firearm at a Skowhegan store early Sunday and then fleeing in a vehicle, before being arrested on Route 2 in Norridgewock, according to police.
Alan Joseph Mitchell, 35, has been charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon and violating conditions of release, police said.
The incident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. at the Big Apple convenience store on Waterville Road, Chief David Bucknam of the Skowhegan Police Department said later Sunday.
Skowhegan police Sgt. Jacob Pierce responded to the store after receiving a report a male customer had drawn a firearm on a store clerk, according to Bucknam.
The customer, the only one in the store at the time, was reportedly looking at lighters and the clerk went around the counter to ask if the customer needed assistance, Bucknam said. The customer asked if the clerk had any “torches,” according to Bucknam.
“When the clerk asked him what he meant by ‘torches,’ the customer said, ‘The ones you smoke crack with,'” Bucknam said. “At that point, the clerk told him, ‘We don’t have any,’ and the customer became irate, started yelling and screaming at the clerk and the clerk told him to get out.”
When the man got to his vehicle, he pulled out what appeared to be a semiautomatic pistol, which was later determined to be a pellet gun. The clerk, however, believed it to be a more-powerful handgun, Bucknam said.
The suspect left in the vehicle and drove on Route 2, also known as Skowhegan Road, to Norridgewock, according to Bucknam.
As dispatchers issued a bulletin asking law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for a vehicle with the description and license number of the one the suspect was driving, Deputy Michael Lyman of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office spotted and stopped the automobile, according to Chief Deputy Michael Mitchell of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
Mitchell is not related to Alan Joseph Mitchell.
Pierce took Alan Mitchell into custody and a probation hold was placed on him, Bucknam said.
A spokeswoman at Somerset County Jail in Madison said Sunday afternoon Alan Mitchell remained at the jail, but she did not have access to the file with information about his bail amount.
She confirmed he would likely be arraigned Monday by video at Somerset District Court.
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