BRUNSWICK (AP) – A masked gunman appeared composed as he threatened to kill pharmacy workers if they didn’t hand over a powerful painkiller, witnesses said.

Minutes later, Kim David Niedermann fled with a bag filled with narcotics, launching a 90-minute drama Thursday night that included a high-speed chase and carjacking. It ended with Niedermann’s death in a shootout with police.

“He was very calm the entire time. He didn’t seem agitated or out of control,” said Jan Murray, a manager at Waltz’s Pharmacy in Waldoboro.

After his PT Cruiser was spotted in Wiscasset, Niedermann led police on a chase through three counties, twice stopping to fire shots at officers in parking lots full of bystanders, investigators said.

It ended after his second vehicle was disabled by a spike mat and pulled into a parking lot outside a pizzeria.

“He jumped right out and started shooting,” said Judith Farrin of Walpole, who watched the episode’s swift conclusion.

Sagadahoc County Deputy Chad Carleton and Brunswick Police Officer Paul Hansen fired back. Niedermann was hit twice, once in the neck and once in the abdomen. The neck wound killed him, according to the state medical examiner’s office.

One of Niedermann’s bullets struck Carleton’s equipment belt, sending fragments into his pants, sweater and T-shirt, said Sagadahoc County Sheriff Mark Westrum. Carleton, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was not seriously hurt.

The attorney general’s office investigates all incidents involving use of deadly force by law enforcement officers. A report will be issued within a few weeks, said Chuck Dow, a spokesman.

Niedermann had a criminal record going back more than 20 years. He spent time in prison for a 1972 drug possession conviction and had been convicted of disorderly conduct, theft, forgery and possession of a firearm by a felon.

In Waldoboro, pharmacist Ted Wooster said the robber didn’t want OxyContin, a target in several pharmacy robberies here in Maine. Instead, he demanded Duragesic, a patch that’s prescribed for chronic pain.

“He pretty much cleaned out the cabinet,” said Wooster. Just before he left, Niedermann ordered the employees and two customers – a mother and her toddler – onto the floor behind the pharmacy counter.

Niedermann was spotted an hour later in Wiscasset, where Sagadahoc County deputies used a spike mat, police said. The car continued across the Kennebec River into Bath with both front tires blown.

Two deputies and a Bath police cruiser followed and attempted to pen the car in the parking lot, Westrum said. Instead, Niedermann fired shots and hit three cruisers before carjacking a Subaru.

In Brunswick, Niedermann drove across another police spike mat and then steered the disabled Subaru into the pizzeria parking lot, where he was killed.

Brunswick Police Chief Jerry Hinton said that there have been fatal shootings in Brunswick during his time as chief, but none like Thursday’s episode, in which so many shots were fired in public places.

“We hope we don’t go through anything like that ever again,” he said.

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