Autistic Man Shot, Killed By Police Was Backing Away: Witness

AUGUSTA, ME — Two police officers shot and killed a distressed autistic man armed with a knife last week, although a witness claimed the man had stepped away from the officers before the shooting occurred.

The shooting happened Thursday in Augusta, the state's capital. Police said Dustin J. Paradis, 34, was in crisis and threatening people with a knife at a homeless shelter. He also injured one person, police said.

Police were called and two officers — Sgt. Chris Blodgett and Officer Sabastian Guptill — arrived. A mental health worker on the police staff was also called, according to Augusta Police Chief Jared Mills.

“(The mental health worker) did not have time to get to that response," Mills told the Bangor Daily News. "It was that immediate and that grave of a situation.”

Mills told the newspaper he did not know if the two officers had stun guns. The police department does not have body cameras for officers.

"After contact was made with (Paradis), an incident involving deadly force occurred between (Paradis) and the male subject and Sergeant Blodgett and Officer Guptill," Augusta Deputy Police Chief Kevin Lully said in a statement. "Mr. Paradis did not survive the encounter."

Blodgett and Guptill were placed on leave. The state Maine Attorney General's Office launched an investigation into whether the shooting was justified.

Timothy Kelpser, who lives at the shelter, told Keith Edwards of the Kennebec Journal he was standing in the middle of police and Paradis when the officers opened fire.

“He stepped backward," Kelpser said. "He didn’t come toward them cops at all. ... He was not going after anybody with the knife. He only grabbed the knife because he was suicidal.”

Kelpser added, “They killed that boy."

When asked about Kelpser's account, Lully told Patch, "There has been nothing from the preliminary police investigation to suggest any support in the claim. However, the incident is still under investigation."

Asked about if the department is considering body cameras, Lully said, "We like many agencies are always looking at technological assets that could assist us in (doing) our job more efficiently."

Paradis' mother, Tammy Woodcock, told Edwards that her son had an anger problem but was not a physical threat to others.

“My son has had 51 interactions with (police in Terre Haute [Indiana]), and not once was a weapon ever unsheathed (by police), because my son is not a threat,” Woodcock said. “There is no reason they had to shoot him. This is not a criminal. He has never been the first one to hit somebody, ever.

“He goes after inanimate objects, slamming kitchen drawers, or he’ll knock over chairs. He’ll be screaming at the top of his lungs. It’s really intimidating, I’m not going to lie. But if you leave him alone, he’ll stop. He won’t touch you.”

Another police shooting in Maine occurred Tuesday in which two officers in Falmouth shot and killed a man during an "armed confrontation," police said. The shooting happened at an intersection at about 6 p.m after officers received a report of a disturbance, police said. Few other details have been released by authorities.

Police shootings in Maine have doubled this year compared with 2020, according to the Bangor Daily News.