AUGUSTA — Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office released findings Friday that four law enforcement officers were legally justified in using deadly force in fatal shootings in Falmouth and Old Town.
The conclusions were reached in separate incidents, one in which a man wielded a knife at an intersection in Falmouth and another in which a man was engaged in an armed standoff in Old Town.
In Falmouth, a pair of officers fired their weapons at Daniel DiMillo, 51, of Falmouth, after he ran at one officer with a knife as they responded to a report of an armed man. One of the officers used a Taser on DeMillo before they opened fire, investigators said.
DiMillo approached an officer with a knife and refused repeated orders to drop it on Oct. 19, 2021, investigators said.
Several witnesses corroborated the two officers’ accounts of how the incident unfolded, investigators said.
In Old Town, a Maine State Police officer and a detective discharged their weapons in a standoff in which Thomas A. Powell III, 31, fired at officers and neighbors. He was brandishing a rifle with a scope when he was shot on April 14, 2020, investigators said.
Maine law allows police officers to use deadly force to protect themselves or others from an imminent threat. In both cases, the officers who discharged their weapons were acting in self defense or the defense of others, Frey wrote.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected at 7:20 p.m. on April 24 to remove inaccurate information about DiMillo. He was not a suspect in any crime.
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