A Maine state trooper was justified in shooting a Mainer who pointed a BB gun at him over the summer.
That’s the conclusion of investigators with the Maine attorney general’s office, which on Friday released their findings into the shooting death of 39-year-old Steven Nelson of Hiram.
It started about 3:47 a.m. on June 7, 2024, when a woman called 911 to say that Nelson had assaulted her friend. The friend had called the woman to ask her to ring the police, and over the phone, the woman could hear Nelson yelling and screaming and hitting her friend, who was dating Nelson, the investigators wrote in their report.
Trooper Zachary Fancy, who had been to the address before for domestic disputes, went to the Aaron Drive home in Hiram, where he arrived about 4:31 a.m.
Fancy saw numerous broken windows on the front of the house and could hear a distressed woman yelling inside, according to the attorney general’s office.
When he entered the home through the kitchen, he observed broken glass, damaged cabinets and a TV on the floor. In his previous visits, Fancy hadn’t seen that level of damage. So he drew his handgun and announced his presence, investigators wrote.
Fancy then saw Nelson emerge from a bedroom only for the man to retreat once he realized the trooper was there.
Given that Fancy didn’t see anything in Nelson’s hands, he swapped out his pistol for a stun gun.
The trooper ordered Nelson to come out, but he refused, shouting profanities and for Fancy to “shoot me,” according to the report.
When he approached the room, Fancy saw a woman lying in the fetal position and crying on a mattress and then spotted Nelson nearby holding what appeared to be a gun in his right hand. As it later turned out, it was a gas-powered BB gun that resembled Fancy’s HK45 semiautomatic pistol, according to the report.
Fancy ordered Nelson to drop the weapon and retreated toward the kitchen to switch back to his handgun. The trooper ordered Nelson to drop the weapon again and again, but each time he refused, according to the report.
Nelson moved to an adjoining bedroom, and Fancy began moving toward him. When Fancy came upon him, the trooper again ordered Nelson to drop the weapon, but Nelson raised his right hand toward the officer.
Fancy fired, hitting Nelson once and dropping him to the ground, investigators wrote.
The trooper administered first aid, but Nelson died at the scene.
The confrontation lasted just two minutes and 17 seconds, and during that time, Fancy had ordered Nelson to drop the BB gun five times, the report stated.
The investigators wrote that Fancy “reasonably” believed Nelson posed an “imminent threat” to both himself and the woman and that the trooper believed there was no safe way to get the woman out of the house.
“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Trooper Fancy acted in self-defense and defense of others when he shot at Mr. Nelson,” the investigators concluded.
