For the second time in 4 days, Maine police have been involved in a fatal shooting.
Topsham police on Monday afternoon responded to a report of a woman sitting in her car on the Route 196 bridge threatening to harm herself and others, and that she might be armed. Police say they approached 37-year-old Kourtney Sherwood and tried to talk with her when things escalated and Officer Mathew Bowers fired his weapon. Sherwood was critically injured and died Tuesday.
Hannah Longley with the Maine Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness says the state needs to increase funding for community supports rather than rely on first responders in these kinds of cases.
"If I'm having a heart attack you're going to send an EMS. If I'm having a mental health crisis we default to law enforcement frequently," she says.
Bowers is on paid administrative leave while the attorney general's office investigates. the shooting came four days after state police say a 12-hour standoff led to an armed confrontation with Greg Lasselle of Pittsfield, who was shot and killed.
