Noella Landry, 84, to ride along with Lewiston police this summer

LEWISTON – The first time Noella Landry picked up a gun, the 84-year-old grandmother plugged a computer-generated hero in the head.

On a wall-sized video screen, the hero crumpled. Lewiston Patrol Officer Thomas Murphy laughed.

“He had his hands up and she hit him right between the eyes,” Murphy said. But Landry learned. She eventually scored well, passing the police “shoot/don’t shoot” test and becoming the oldest alum in the 11-year history of Lewiston’s Citizen Police Academy.

“She was a joy to have in the class,” Murphy said.

And the schooling will continue.

Murphy plans to make Landry his partner for a day this summer, taking the retired seamstress on a ride-along in his police cruiser.

For Landry, who treasures her blue completion certificate, it will be a chance to pick up a few more cop stories.

“I signed up because I’m still learning,” Landry said. “I said, ‘I’m going to learn a lot of things I don’t know.'”

The class aims to introduce folks to the Lewiston Police Department.

Students in the free program receive in struction on topics ranging from crime scene investigation, dealing with child abuse and the enforcement of drug and alcohol laws.

The recent class had 23 graduates.

“It was a very mixed group,” said Murphy, the lead instructor. There were seven or eight Andover College students, three high-schoolers, five senior citizens and four local Somalis.

Landry attended every class, arriving early each night, Murphy said.

“I loved it,” Landry said. She was fascinated by a discussion of arson. She liked the personal safety pointers she picked up in a session on self-defense, though the need for it saddened her a bit.

“You have to watch yourself,” she said. Lewiston was a far safer place when she was a girl, she said.

She had never held a gun until Murphy placed one in her hands. Of course, it wasn’t real. The fake gun was made for a firearm training range in the bottom of the federal courthouse in Portland.

The Lewiston academy’s last class was held there, where students were armed with the technically advanced phony that replicated the recoil and sound of a real handgun.

It tests reflexes, marksmanship and the ability to make a split-second decision: shoot or don’t shoot. On the third try, Landry shot a bad guy and let the hero live.

“I never took a gun,” Landry said. “Now, I know how it feels.”

Landry, a lady who makes quilts and attends church, beamed as she talked about her rookie moment. “I would do it again,” she said. “Yes, I would.”