Augusta man shot while assaulting federal officer sentenced to prison

Derik Broox Wight, 41, was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a federal officer at the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building in April of last year. Above, Augusta police secure the entrance to the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building at 40 Western Ave. in Augusta after a shooting inside the building April 20. Police and investigators at the scene said a man with a knife was shot by a security guard who was screening visitors to the building. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal file

An Augusta man who was shot at the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building while assaulting a federal officer there last year has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Derik Broox Wight, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lance Walker in federal court in Bangor on Tuesday after pleading guilty in September of last year to assaulting a federal officer in April 2022.

His 16-month prison sentence is to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Authorities said Wight entered the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building, at 40 Western Avenue in Augusta, on April 20, 2022, pulled out a knife and held it near the throat of a security officer who was screening people at the entrance.

Wight pinned the officer against the wall and then moved the knife out by his side, near his hip, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Timothy Theriault. Another security officer then pointed his gun at Wight and ordered him to drop the knife. When Wight did not do so, the officer fired a single shot that struck Wight, Theriault wrote.

Wight released his hold on the guard, dropped the knife and fell to the ground, and security officers secured the site then began rendering first aid to Wight.

Wight was arrested and taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta for treatment of a gunshot wound, then placed in federal custody.

The guards were contracted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service. At the time of the incident, the security officer grabbed by Wight was employed by Petronus Security, a subcontractor for Paragon Systems Inc., an entity that contracted with the Federal Protective Service to provide security services at the federal building.

“Everyone who enters a federal building in Maine should know that the Federal Protective Service and their partners are on scene to protect visitors and tenants,” U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee said in a news release. “It can be a difficult and dangerous job, and I commend the quick actions of the (Federal Protective Service) officers and thank them for preventing any innocent bystanders from being injured.”

James S. Nixon, an assistant federal defender assigned by the Office of the Federal Defender to serve as Wight’s attorney, has previously declined to comment on the case or why Wight pleaded guilty.

The maximum sentence for the charge against Wight was up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Wight was detained without bail, pending resolution of his case, at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The FBI and Augusta Police, in addition to the Federal Protective Service, investigated the case.

The building houses a post office and several federal offices, including the Internal Revenue Service.