NORRIDGEWOCK — A man was shot by a Somerset County Sheriff’s deputy early Friday on Mechanic Street downtown while deputies were investigating a vehicle crash.
The man who was shot, Trever Caouette, 24, of Skowhegan, underwent surgery Friday morning at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor after having been transferred there from Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, according to Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster.
The deputy who shot Caouette is Michael Lyman, Lancaster said.
“Deputy Lyman has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the investigation of the shooting,” Lancaster said. “No further information will be provided at this time while investigators are processing the scene and conducting interviews.”
Lancaster said around 10:30 a.m. in a phone interview that the names of the deputy and the victim were not going to be released until family members were notified.
Caouette’s Facebook page identifies him as a machine operator and tool tech.
He said that at about 1:45 a.m. Friday, Somerset deputies were involved in an armed confrontation on Mechanic Street while investigating a vehicle crash, which occurred on nearby U.S. Route 2. The truck involved in the crash is registered to Caouette.
“The interaction resulted in an armed confrontation, and during that confrontation, a deputy shot the male,” Lancaster said.
Lancaster, who was at the scene after the shooting and into the morning, said the investigation is being handled by the state Attorney General’s Office, which the Sheriff’s Office notified of the shooting. That investigation is in its early stages, he said.
He said he could not get into the details of the investigation.
Maine State Police and Somerset County Sheriff’s officers collect evidence from the scene of a shooting Friday on Mechanic Street in Norridgewock. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
He said he wanted to thank Maine State Police, as well as Skowhegan and Fairfield police, who assisted at the scene.
Asked if the incident was related to the chase and arrest of a Norridgewock man Wednesday by Skowhegan Police, Lancaster said he did not know.
At the scene around 9:30 a.m. Friday, yellow crime scene tape was tied from a post at Cumberland Farms to a state Route 8 sign across Mechanic Street, blocking off the road to traffic. The shooting took place not far from there, near a guardrail on U.S. Route 2.
The State Police Evidence Response Team cab was parked at the entrance to Cumberland Farms off Mechanic Street.
Meanwhile, on nearby U.S. Route 2 leading to Skowhegan, a red, double cab Dodge Ram pickup was nose down in a muddy ditch, its tailgate ripped off and the left rear tire missing. A state trooper was standing by.
That crash occurred near a seasonal house by the Kennebec River, not far from Oosoola Park on Route 2, and no one was at the home.
Just before 10:30 a.m., police had removed the crime scene tape from Mechanic Street.
A Cumberland Farms worker said the store closed at 11 p.m. Thursday so no one was there to witness anything. The store formerly was open 24 hours, but it closes at 11 p.m. because of the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Officials at the scene said they could not comment.
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