A state trooper was justified in killing an Auburn man during a rampage there last summer.
That’s the conclusion of investigators with the Maine attorney general’s office, which on Friday released their findings in the shooting death of 43-year-old Leein Hinkley.
It all started about 12:57 a.m. on June 15, 2024, when a woman called 911 to report that her ex-boyfriend, Hinkley, was outside her Russell Avenue home in Auburn. Hinkley was barred from having any contact with her under a protection order and his bail conditions, according to the report.
During the 911 call, dispatchers could hear Hinkley firing a gun in the background.
When police arrived, an Auburn officer found the woman hiding in the woods, clearly frightened, and she told the officer that her friend, 43-year-old Brian Woodbury, was still inside the home, which by that time was on fire, investigators wrote. Police also could hear shouting inside.
From inside the home, Hinkley fired at police, prompting Androscoggin County sheriff’s deputies and Lewiston, Lisbon and Mechanic Falls police to respond and help Auburn police set up a perimeter.
While driving down Russell Avenue to determine which homes should be evacuated, Auburn Deputy Chief Tim Cougle was approached by a man who said that Hinkley was inside his garage.
Police surrounded that home, and a Maine State Police tactical team tried to make contact with Hinkley. After not getting any response, the tactical team entered the garage only to find Hinkley wasn’t inside and blood near a window, according to the report.
Then farther down Russell Avenue a homeowner reported that Hinkley was on his roof, where the gunman yelled at police and held a gun to his head, under his chin and then out toward officers, according to the report.
At this time, Maine State Police Detective Scott Duff fired twice at Hinkley, missing. Behind the property, Trooper Patrick Hall heard the two shots and could see Hinkley near the home’s chimney.
Fearing that Hinkley would shoot at police, Hall fired twice, killing Hinkley, investigators wrote.
The Maine medical examiner’s office ruled that Hinkley died from a gunshot to the head and a toxicology report showed he had methamphetamine and cocaine in his system.
The remains of Woodbury were later found in the burned Russell Avenue home.
Both Duff and Hall “reasonably believed” that Hinkley was going to shoot and possibly harm officers having already “demonstrated his willingness” to use violence against police and others, investigators wrote.
“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Det. Duffy and Trooper Hall acted in defense of themselves and others when they used deadly force against Mr. Hinkley,” investigators concluded.
In the aftermath of the rampage, District Court Judge Sarah Churchill came under fire for reducing bail for Hinkley because she ruled that the courts had violated his rights by not finding him an attorney. Hinkley was being held for a bail violation. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to felony assault for stabbing his former girlfriend and a man who came to her aid.
Both a police union and Gov. Janet Mills criticized Churchill for reducing Hinkley’s bail. That criticism prompted the Maine Judicial Branch to come to Churchill’s defense, saying the “constitutional rights of the accused are not a matter of convenience.” The Judicial Branch pointed to the lack of available attorneys for indigent defendants as the reason Hinkley’s bail was eventually reduced because a person cannot be held in jail for an unknown length of time without legal representation.
“Unless and until we have enough defense attorneys available to represent accused people, our system will continue to malfunction,” the statement said.
