BANGOR, Maine — Law enforcement officials on Wednesday released the identities of the man shot and killed by Bangor police and the officer who pulled the trigger after a traffic stop near a convenience store the night before.
Joshua Jozefowicz, 23, most recently of Swan’s Island, was fatally shot Tuesday night after he pulled his vehicle into the parking lot at the Leadbetter’s at 1105 Hammond St. and then fled from police to a wooded area behind an adjacent field.
The Maine attorney general’s office and Bangor police released the identities of Jozefowicz and Ryan Jones, the officer involved in the shooting.
Court records show there was an arrest warrant out for Jozefowicz, whose criminal history includes convictions on drug-related offenses and a weapons violation involving brass knuckles in Hancock County.
Jones joined the Bangor Police Department in 2010, according to Bangor Daily News archives. He has been placed on paid administrative leave, according to Bangor police, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting.
Jones was one of six Bangor police officers originally named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court over the death of Phillip McCue, 28, of Bangor on Sept. 17, 2012. McCue’s father, Michael McCue of Jackson, filed an eight-count wrongful death lawsuit in March 2014 in U.S. District Court in Bangor seeking $6.65 million in damages.
McCue’s attorney, David Van Dyke of Lewiston, dropped Jones from the lawsuit when he filed an amended complaint in July 2014.
Bangor Police Chief Mark Hathaway referred questions about the lawsuit to Bangor attorney Fred Badger, who is on vacation this week.
The remaining defendants are officers Kim Donnell, Wade Betters (who is now a sergeant), Joshua Kuhn, David Farrar and Chris Blanchard.
An attempt to reach Jones for comment Wednesday was unsuccessful.
The attorney general’s office, which investigates all shootings involving police, and Bangor police declined to release further details about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.
Initial reports suggested police pulled over the vehicle Jozefowicz was driving after it had been reported stolen, prompting the traffic stop. Those reports have not been verified.
Investigators also would not say whether Jozefowicz was armed or whether he used a weapon or threatened to use a weapon against police.
Multiple people reported hearing more than 10 shots fired as police and emergency medical personnel swarmed the area. Witnesses said police had stopped a car and a male occupant bolted into the woods before shots were fired.
Police would not comment on the number of shots fired or who fired them.
Investigators, including several from the Maine Warden Service, were on scene throughout the day Wednesday, sweeping a field and wooded area adjacent to the Leadbetter’s property with metal detectors and dogs.
Leadbetter’s, which sells gasoline, food and other items, remained open for business throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday.
A criminal background check revealed that Jozefowicz was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, a Class D crime, in 2013. That charge stemmed from a 2012 arrest in Ellsworth after police found brass knuckles on him when they stopped a vehicle in which he was a passenger, according to The Ellsworth American weekly newspaper.
That same year, Jozefowicz was charged with multiple drug offenses in Hancock County, according to court documents filed at the courthouse in Ellsworth.
He was charged with two Class B felony counts of trafficking in oxycodone stemming from incidents on Jan. 22 and 23, 2013, in Bucksport. Details about the circumstances that led to those charges were not included in court documents.
He was charged again with unlawful trafficking in drugs in May 2013, after he knowingly participated in a drug purchase that was set up and monitored by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, according to a probable cause report filed in Hancock County Unified Criminal Court.
He was wired to record audio by MDEA agents, given $450 in cash and told to purchase 10 pills from a woman at a Bucksport apartment, the documents indicate, but when he returned, he had only nine pills. He initially told police he may have been “ripped off,” but when he was searched, authorities found the 10th pill hidden in the top of a cigarette lighter, according to the report.
The document says that when police asked what he was trying to do, he responded, saying that “if he was going to rat on a friend he might as well try to make [$50] by selling one of the pills.”
As a result, he was arrested on charges of violating bail, unlawful trafficking and unlawful possession of scheduled drugs.
That October, in a plea deal, Jozefowicz pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful trafficking, one count of unlawful possession and one count of violating bail. He received an overall sentence of four years behind bars with all but 120 days suspended. He also was ordered to pay $980 in fines and serve 30 months of probation upon his release from jail.
After serving his jail time, Jozefowicz had difficulty meeting the terms of his probation. He was arrested for probation violations this past June but was released on bail with instructions to report to his probation officer the next day — something he did not do.
“Mr. Jozefowicz clearly does not want to be on probation,” his probation officer, David Cyr, wrote in a motion to revoke Jozefowicz’s probation.
A mandated Sept. 1 court appearance also came and went without Jozefowicz being present, resulting in a warrant for his arrest.
The shooting is the second involving Bangor police this year, according to records provided by the attorney general’s office. The previous incident occurred Feb. 2 during a standoff on Union Street involving Nicholas Condon of Portland. Bangor police officers Brian Smith and Dennis Townsend fired their weapons but Condon was not injured.
The last fatal shooting involving Bangor police occurred on Aug. 3, 1997, when Gregory Baker was shot and killed by Sgt. Robert Bishop.
BDN writers Bill Trotter and Judy Harrison contributed to this report. Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.