Maine trooper shoots, injures man during confrontation in Searsmont home

SEARSMONT — A Maine State Police trooper shot and wounded a local man at a residence at 628 New England Road on Friday afternoon, according to authorities.

Police identified the man as 42-year-old Leonard Maker.

Trooper James McDonald reportedly went to Maker’s home at 3:10 p.m. Friday to serve a protection from abuse order and arrest Maker on five outstanding warrants for failure to appear.

“We encountered him. He was armed. There was gunfire,” said Col. Robert Williams of the Maine State Police.

Williams said police had not yet determined whether Maker shot at the trooper, who was not injured during the incident. Police are not disclosing what type of weapon Maker was carrying but say they have it in their possession.

Maker was taken by ambulance to Waldo County General in Belfast and then transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for surgery. Police said Maker’s wounds are not life-threatening but did not disclose where he was shot.

McDonald will be placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting. Also following standard procedure, the Maine attorney general’s office is investigating, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said.

Williams said that Maker may face charges in connection with Friday’s incident.

When investigators arrived after the shooting, they found three large dogs in the home fighting and had an animal control officer come take the animals away.

No one else was home at the time of the shooting, according to police.

At 6 p.m. Friday evening, about a dozen local, county and state law enforcement officials, wardens and at least one deputy district attorney from Waldo County were at the home. No trespassing signs flanked the driveway and yellow crime scene tape was stretched across the entrance to the property.

A child’s pedal car could be seen in the backyard.

A nearby building with the same red coloring featured a sign identifying it as Maker’s Redemption Center.

: Law enforcement officials work outside the home on New England Road in Searsmont where a Maine State Police trooper shot a man Friday afternoon. The injured man, 42-year-old Leonard Maker, was in surgery later Friday for what police described as injuries that were not life-threatening.