AUGUSTA – A state trooper who shot a Jay man after being shot at last month was justified in doing so, the state Attorney General’s Office has ruled.

The shooting happened late on June 6 when police responded to a domestic disturbance involving William Burhoe and his son at Burhoe’s Macomber Hill Road home in Jay.

According to police, Burhoe, 51, refused to put down a rifle when he was told to. Instead, he fired at Trooper Randall Keaten, police said. Keaten returned fire, hitting Burhoe in the leg.

The trooper had responded to the call to back up Jay police and Franklin County sheriff’s deputies.

All shootings in Maine involving police are investigated, as requred by law.

After the investigation of the Jay incident, Attorney General Steven Rowe determined that Keaten believed he was under imminent threat and that the use of deadly force was necessary.

Burhoe, 50, is charged with aggravated attempted murder and reckless conduct with a firearm.

After being released from the hospital, he was ordered held on $300,000 cash bail or twice that amount in property value.

A jailer at the Franklin County Jail in Farmington said Thursday evening that Burhoe hasn’t made bail, but has been transferred to Riverview, the former Augusta Mental Health Institution in Augusta, for medical evaluation.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.