PORTLAND (AP) – Officials on Friday said they were piecing together why a fugitive who killed himself after firing on state troopers and leading them on a high-speed pursuit came to Maine and whether he had help from any accomplices.

Michael Hancock, 28, of Bradford, Pa., died of a single gunshot wound to the head Thursday evening after leading police on a chase down the Maine Turnpike that ended with a standoff in Saco that created a massive hours-long traffic jam.

Hancock’s father, 51-year-old John C. Hancock, was in custody after driving all night from his Pennsylvania home to Maine State Police barracks in Gray.

Police said the son left a message on his father’s answering service during the chase telling him he was going to kill himself.

At a news conference Friday, members of the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Maine State Police said Hancock came to Maine in February after skipping out on his federal trial on weapons charges last August in Erie, Pa. He was convicted of the charges in absentia.

Hancock was known to police as being violent and possibly being in possession of firearms and explosive materials, U.S. Marshal David Viles said.

“He had indicated he would take police down with him if police attempted to apprehend him,” the marshal said.

The episode unfolded shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday when authorities tried but failed to arrest Hancock while he was driving his sport utility vehicle on a Portland street. His companion, Kim Vinelli, 48, was not charged.

When the initial attempt to apprehend Hancock failed, police pursued him onto Interstate 295 and into South Portland where Trooper John Kyle II pulled his cruiser in front of the SUV. The fugitive fired on Kyle three times.

One shot hit the cruiser door, another struck the light bar on the roof, and the third blew out the rear window and grazed the side of Kyle’s head before lodging in the dashboard, said Maine State Police Sgt. Timothy Doyle.

Hancock then drove south onto the Maine Turnpike, firing at other police cars along the way before coming to a stop in Saco, where Vinelli fled from the vehicle, police said.

Vinelli, who is also from Bradford, Pa., told police that Hancock had shot himself, but authorities moved with caution because they thought he might be armed and try to bring harm to police, said U.S. Chief Deputy Marshal John Cooper. Two handguns were later recovered from the vehicle, authorities said.

Roadblocks set up during the evening rush hour transformed the six-lane Maine Turnpike into a massive parking lot for three hours with cars and trucks backed up for miles in both directions.

Around 7:50 p.m., a state police tactical squad used tear gas and diversionary explosives on Hancock’s Ford Escape before moving in and discovering that he was dead.

Police later searched a house in Windham where Hancock and Vinelli had been staying since February. Viles said Hancock used the aliases Michael Demming and Jason Tessena while in Maine, and that police want to talk to people who came in contact with him during his time here.

Officials are also trying to determine if Hancock’s father violated any federal crimes.

“We had information that he along with his son could be dangerous to himself or authorities,” Doyle said.