A Cushing man shot his ex-girlfriend in the arm in Jefferson, fled police, exchanged gunfire with a state trooper, then shot and killed himself the night of Monday, Aug. 15.
The 30-year-old woman was taken to LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta for treatment of a gunshot wound to the arm, according to a press release from Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland. She was treated and released, according to a spokesman for the hospital.
Shane Prior, 34, of Cushing, shot his ex-girlfriend outside the house where she was staying with a friend, at 130 Somerville Road near the northern tip of Jefferson, at about 10 p.m., according to McCausland.
Prior had been hiding on the property while talking on the phone to the woman, who was sitting in her car in the driveway. He then grabbed her and forced her down the driveway, where he fired more than one shot, wounding her in the arm.
Two young children were outside at the time, but did not witness the shooting.
Maine State Police troopers responded to the shooting, saw Prior driving a pickup truck away from the scene, and chased him about 3 miles, onto Route 17 and then Route 32, where he stopped his truck about a half-mile from Route 17 and fired a shot at Sgt. Jason Madore, who returned fire. Prior then shot and killed himself in his truck.
Madore was not injured. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay while the Maine Attorney General’s Office investigates, as is standard practice for police-involved shootings in Maine.
Madore is a 12-year veteran of the state police and a longtime member of the agency’s crisis negotiation team. He is assigned to Troop D in Augusta. Five troopers were involved in the pursuit.
Route 32 was closed after the shooting but reopened early Tuesday.
