The Attorney General's office is now investigating the 11th police involved shooting this year, the fourth fatal incident in less than a month. Two Falmouth police officers shot and killed a man during an armed confrontation Tuesday night.
Falmouth Police Chief John Kilbride says it all started with a 9-1-1 call just before 6 p.m. Sgt. Kevin Conggher and Officer Peter Therio were dispatched to the intersection of Lunt and Middle Roads where they found Daniel DiMillo, 51, running around the intersection with a knife. Kilbride says the two officers confronted DiMillo but things escalated quickly. Both fired their weapons and DiMillo died at the scene. During a press briefing Wednesday, Kilbride said his officers are trained in crisis intervention and use it every day.
"They're very good at it and successful at it. In this particular instance the officers were engaged immediately and the opportunity did not present itself," Kilbride said.
Chief Kilbride says Falmouth police have interacted with DiMillo about a dozen times since 2015, but he declined to give details saying the Attorney General's office now has that information and is conducting an investigation into the use of deadly force. This is the 11th shooting involving a police officer in Maine this year, and the 8th fatality. George Shaler is a senior research associate who studies justice policy issues at the Cutler Institute at the University of Southern Maine.
"There's a lot of rhetoric right now. You know, whether it's against politicians, whether it's against law enforcement. We live in a very tense society right now. People are fed up with the pandemic. People are quick to react right now," Shaler said.
Kilbride says one of the officers fell during the incident and was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released. This is the first shooting at the Falmouth Police Department. The officers are now on paid administrative leave, and the chief says they are shaken but getting the help they need to process what happened.
