CARMEL, Maine — The woman shot by a deputy on Sunday morning after threatening people with a “homemade weapon” was carrying something that resembled a medieval flail — a metal rod with two ropes attached that had railroad spikes tied to their ends, witnesses said.
The Maine attorney general’s office, which investigates all officer-involved shootings, on Monday released the names of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office deputy who fired the gun and the woman she shot.
Penobscot County Sheriff’s Deputy Kari Kurth shot and wounded Alexis Lannon, 20, a Bangor-area resident, Tim Feeley, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said in an email.
Several people saw Lannon before she was shot.
David Richardson, a Carmel resident and former state representative, saw Lannon walking in the road dragging something and thought she needed assistance.
“That was my first thought,” Richardson said Monday afternoon. “I couldn’t get by her. She kept on weaving in and out of traffic.”
He stopped his vehicle and asked if she needed help.
That is when “she swung the thing at my car,” Richardson said of the weapon. “She didn’t damage it, but then I knew something was wrong with her.”
Kurth went to the area about 9 a.m. Sunday to deal with Lannon, who reportedly was threatening people on Route 2 with her homemade weapon, according to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.
When Kurth arrived, Lannon “advanced toward” her with the homemade weapon and was shot, according to the sheriff’s office.
Lannon was taken to an area hospital, but details about her condition were not released Monday.
She has a criminal history. Lannon was arrested on criminal threatening and assault charges in Winterport on July 21, 2013, according to a posting in the PenBay Pilot. The assault charge later was dismissed, the article states, and Lannon was sentenced to 40 hours of community service for the criminal threatening.
Kurth, 37, has been with the sheriff’s office since February 2013, Sheriff Troy Morton said Monday.
“As per normal policy, the officer has been placed on [paid] administrative leave,” Morton said.
After encountering Richardson, Lannon reportedly used the weapon to smash the windshield of a car for sale on the side of the road, owned by resident Matt Weeks.
“The lady just busted the hell out of my car, a mailbox and the post office before she was shot,” Weeks said during a Monday phone interview.
Don Tracy, who lives within sight of where Weeks’ car was parked, said he and his wife, Becky, heard a metal banging sound that got their attention.
“She stopped at my mailbox to mess around with it,” Tracy said, standing in his garage. “I went up and told her to get out of here.”
Lannon never acknowledged his presence until he was very close to her, he said.
When Tracy finally got her attention, “She said, ‘I can do anything I want to do.’ I said, ‘Really? Get out of here.’”
Tracy said Lannon displayed the weapon and threatened him.
“She said, ‘You want some of these?’” the homeowner said. “I backed off” and then called 911 while Lannon went to the U.S. Post Office located across the street to bang on the door with the flail.
When she left the post office, “she stopped a car by more or less getting in his path,” Tracy said. “One tried to go around. Another one turned around and went the other way.”
Tracy lost sight of Lannon as she walked out Route 2, away from town, but heard “a pop” shortly after the first deputy arrived on scene.
Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said his office is reviewing the case and he expects Lannon will be charged.
“We are reviewing the evidence and expect her to be in court either late this week or early next week,” Almy said. “Charges are under review.”
The Carmel incident was the sixth officer-involved shooting in Maine in 2015, Feeley said.
“One resulted in a fatality, four resulted in injuries, one resulted in no injuries,” Feeley said.