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A Somerset County sheriff’s deputy acted in self-defense more than two years ago when he shot a man outside a Norridgewock convenience store.
That’s the conclusion of investigators with the Maine attorney general’s office, which released the report into the shooting of 27-year-old Trevor Caouette of Skowhegan on Friday.
It was about 12:40 a.m. on March 26, 2021, when Caouette’s fiance called police to report that he was intoxicated and driving around Norridgewock. Not long after that, about 12:59 a.m., deputies found his red Dodge pickup truck about 60 feet off Skowhegan Road in Norridgewock in the woods, investigators said in their narrative of the shooting.
He was nowhere near the crash scene.
Deputy Tyler Lafreniere later spotted Caouette in the parking lot at the Cumberland Farms at the intersections of routes 2 and 139.
While the deputy talked with him, Caouette’s fiance arrived at Cumberland Farms and confronted him. During the argument, Caouette was filmed on Lafreniere’s dashboard camera walking backward with his arms behind his back, according to the report.
The fiance eventually went back toward Cumberland Farms.
At this point, Lafreniere called for backup, reporting Caouette was walking down the middle of Mechanic Street with a handgun out, investigators wrote.
He was joined by Deputy Michael Lyman and Deputy Sgt. Ritchie Putnam.
Lafreniere and Lyman had their cruisers parked side by side in Mechanic Street, adjacent to Cumberland Farms. Lafreniere armed himself with his rifle and positioned himself on the passenger side of his cruiser, while Lyman had his handgun out and took cover behind his cruiser.
Caouette proceeded to walk toward the officers with his arms extended and pointed the gun toward them, according to the report.
The deputies ordered Caouette to “Drop the gun,” but he continued to point it in their direction.
It was then that Lyman, who feared Caouette was going to shoot Lafreniere, fired two shots at Caouette, striking him in the abdomen and causing him to fall to the ground.
Putnam kicked away the handgun while the other two deputies administered first aid to the still-conscious Caouette, who was later taken to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor to be treated for a gunshot wound.
On July 21, 2021, Caouette pleaded guilty to criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to two concurrent nine-month terms in jail.
In reviewing the circumstances leading up to the shooting and other testimony, the attorney general’s office concluded that Lyman “reasonably believed” Caouette posed an “imminent threat” toward the officers outside the Cumberland Farms.
“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Deputy Lyman acted in defense of Deputy Lafreniere or self-defense at the time he used deadly force,” the investigators concluded.