Police-Involved Shooting in Skowhegan

October 5, 2010

The Attorney General?s Office is investigating a police-involved shooting that occurred Monday night, October 4, 2010, on the Middle Road in Skowhegan. According to Nicole Sacre, spokesperson for the Attorney General, Kemp Lybrook, 28, of Skowhegan was shot and wounded near his home on the Middle Road in a confrontation with a member of the State Police Tactical Team, Trooper Mark Sperrey. Members of the Tactical Team had been outside the residence for several hours after the team?s assistance was requested by the Skowhegan Police Department, which had been earlier summoned to the residence after a report of a despondent man with a gun behaving in a threatening manner. According to initial reports, Lybrook was brandishing an assault rifle when he was shot by Trooper Sperrey and was approaching Trooper Sperrey and a second trooper behind Lybrook?s residence in a wooded area. Lybrook was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery for a single gunshot wound. The incident is being investigated by the Attorney General?s Office with the assistance of the Skowhegan Police Department and State Police detectives.

The Attorney General is charged by law with investigating any law enforcement officer who uses deadly force while acting in the performance of the officer's duties. The sole purpose of the Attorney General?s investigation is to determine whether self-defense or the defense of others, as defined in law, is reasonably generated on the facts so as to preclude criminal prosecution. The review does not include whether there could be any civil liability, whether any administrative action is warranted, or whether the use of deadly force could have been averted.

This is the fourth police-involved shooting in Maine this year.

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CONTACT: Maine Attorney General (207) 626-8599