Police: Man killed deputy, stole his car and robbed store

A man scheduled to appear in court to face gun charges Wednesday killed a sheriff's deputy in Maine, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store, officials said.

The fatal shooting of Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole around 1:45 a.m. on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock triggered an intensive manhunt for the shooter in and around the heavily wooded rural community about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Bangor.

This 2007 photo shows Somerset County Cpl. Sheriff Eugene Cole , who was killed early Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. A search is underway for a suspect who stole the deputy's cruiser and robbed a convenience store afterward. (Jeff Pouland/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP)

Officers work the scene of a shooting at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Norridgewock, Maine, Wednesday, April 25, 2018. A Maine man killed a sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed the convenience store early Wednesday, triggering an intensive manhunt in the rural town in central Maine. (Lexie O'Connor/WGME via AP )

Law enforcement officials vowed to maintain a heavy presence overnight and urged residents to remain vigilant as the search continued for 29-year-old John Williams, of Madison, Maine.

"Many times we're able to say that there is not an ongoing threat, but that's not the case today," State Police Lt. Col. John Cote said. "There certainly is an ongoing public threat. He's considered armed and dangerous."

Cole's death is believed to be the first killing of a law enforcement officer in Maine in nearly 30 years. The last time someone killed an officer in the line of duty was in 1989, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster, center, speaks with the media, Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine, after deputy Eugene Cole was killed overnight. Accompanying Lancaster are, from left, John Cote of Maine State Police, Franklin Sheriff Scott Nichols, Lancaster, Penobscot Sheriff Troy Morton an Kennebec Sheriff Ken Mason. (David Leaming//The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP)

Police officers stand along U.S. Route 2 on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine, after Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole was killed there overnight. A Maine man killed the sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, officials said. (David Leaming/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP)

Helicopters, armored vehicles and numerous police cruisers were spotted around Norridgewock, and schools were locked down as federal, state and local law enforcement poured into the region to look for Williams.

Police said Williams is 5-foot-6, 120 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair in a ponytail.

Law enforcement officials said he had arrest records in Maine, Tennessee and Massachusetts. In Tennessee, he faced drug and drug-related charges dating as far back as 2008 and was revived from an overdose at least once, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

Last month, Williams was arrested in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and charged with improper storage and carrying a firearm without a license. He was found with a 9mm handgun and a 16-round magazine after he told the police that he dozed off and drove into a ditch.

An officer wrote in the report that Williams appeared tired and impaired, but denied having consumed any alcohol or illegal drugs.

Williams posted bail on March 31 and was due to return to court on Wednesday for a probable cause hearing.

That image contrasts with Williams' days at Skowhegan High School, where a yearbook showed he once served as a class officer. "When in school he was a nice, funny and an all-around good guy," said classmate Casey Sprout-Costa.

Another classmate, Alex Stetkis, said Williams was a popular honor student who was class president in his junior year. But things went downhill when he started picking fights with other classmates and getting into drugs.

"Most could not believe it," Stetkis said of the news that Williams was suspected in the killing.

"He was always kind and could have gone anywhere in life if he hadn't gotten into drugs," he said.

Police spread out to search on North Street in Skowhegan, Maine, on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, after Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole was killed overnight in nearby Norridgewock, Maine. A Maine man killed the sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, officials said. (David Leaming/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP)

Maine State trooper William Plourde checks a vehicle at the town line of Oakland and Fairfield on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, after Somerset County Sheriff's Deputy Eugene Cole was killed overnight in nearby Norridgewock, Maine. A Maine man killed the sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store early Wednesday, officials said. (Michael G. Seamans/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP)

Williams' Facebook page features photos of him smiling at a graduation ceremony as well as other photos of him hiking, hanging out with friends and dressed in a suit at a wedding party. His last post in 2017 noted how he was starting a new job in nearby Anson, Maine.

Residents in Norridgewock, a town of about 3,500, were stunned Wednesday as state police and federal agents investigated a blue-grey home believed to be where Williams lived with his girlfriend. Overhead, a helicopter buzzed low over trees.

This undated photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, who is being sought in connection with the shooting of a Somerset County sheriff's deputy Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Deputy Eugene Cole was killed while responding to a reported robbery. (Maine State Police via AP)

This dash cam photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, robbing a convenience store Wednesday morning, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Maine authorities are searching for Williams, who they say fatally shot a sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed the Cumberland Farms store. (Maine State Police via AP)

"We're a little on edge. It's unnerving knowing there's a guy running around out there," said Tasha Raymond, who was home with her two children.

Gov. Paul LePage expressed his "deepest condolences" to Cole's family in a tweet. "If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe," the Republican governor said. LePage also directed all U.S and state flags to be flown at half-staff for at least three days.

Cole has a son who also is a Somerset County deputy. Sheriff Dale Lancaster called Cole, a 13-year veteran of the department, an "outstanding employee, one of the finest deputies."

A relative described Cole as a lover of music who was well-known throughout the community for his generous and peaceful ways.

This dash cam photo released by the Maine State Police shows John Williams of Madison, Maine, after robbing a convenience store Wednesday morning, April 25, 2018, in Norridgewock, Maine. Maine authorities are searching for Williams, who they say fatally shot a sheriff's deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed the Cumberland Farms store. (Maine State Police via AP)

"He was one of the most caring and considerate people that I had the pleasure to know," said Madison resident Scott Bishop, whose mother had been married to Cole's brother.

The practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found.

At least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained by police from 2012 through 2021, according to findings by the AP in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism. That’s nearly 10% of the more than 1,000 deaths identified during the investigation of people subdued by police in ways that are not supposed to be fatal.

Supporters say sedatives enable rapid treatment for drug-related behavioral emergencies and psychotic episodes, protect front-line responders from violence and are safely administered thousands of times annually to get people with life-threatening conditions to hospitals. Critics say forced sedation should be strictly limited or banned, arguing the medications, given without consent, are too risky to be administered during police encounters.

The injections spanned the country, from a desert in Arizona to a street in St. Louis to a home in Florida. They happened in big cities such as Dallas, suburbs like Lithonia, Georgia, and rural areas such as Dale, Indiana. They occurred in homes, in parking lots, in ambulances and occasionally in hospitals where police encounters came to a head.

It was impossible to determine the role sedatives may have played in each of the 94 deaths, which often involved the use of other potentially dangerous force on people who had taken drugs or consumed alcohol. Medical experts told the AP their impact could be negligible in people who were already dying; the final straw that triggered heart or breathing failure in the medically distressed; or the main cause of death when given in the wrong circumstances or mishandled.

While sedatives were mentioned as a cause or contributing factor in a dozen official death rulings, authorities often didn’t even investigate whether injections were appropriate. Medical officials have traditionally viewed them as mostly benign treatments. Now some say they may be playing a bigger role than previously understood and deserve more scrutiny.

Here are takeaways from AP’s investigation:

The investigation found that about half those who died after injections were Black.

Behind the racial disparity is a disputed medical condition called excited delirium, which fueled the rise of sedation outside hospitals. Critics say its purported symptoms, including “superhuman strength” and high pain tolerance, play into racist stereotypes about Black people and lead to biased decisions about who needs sedation.

Guidelines require paramedics to make rapid, subjective assessments of the potential dangers posed by the people they treat. Only those judged to be at high risk of harming themselves or others are supposed to be candidates for shots.

But the investigation found that some whose behavior did not meet the bar — who had already largely calmed down or in rare cases even passed out — were given injections. In some cases, paramedics cited fears that people would become violent on the way to hospitals.

The 2019 death of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado, put a spotlight on the practice. A paramedic convicted of giving McClain an overdose of ketamine was sentenced last month to five years in prison, and a second paramedic is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Time and time again, the AP found, agitated people who were held by police facedown, often handcuffed and with officers pushing on their backs, struggled to breathe and tried to get free. Citing combativeness, paramedics administered sedatives, further slowing their breathing. Cardiac and respiratory arrest often occurred within minutes.

Paramedics drugged people who were not a threat to themselves or others, violating treatment guidelines. Medics often didn’t know whether other drugs or alcohol were in people’s systems, although some combinations cause serious side effects.

Police officers sometimes suggested paramedics should give shots to suspects they were detaining, a potential abuse of their power.

The majority of those who died had been restrained facedown in handcuffs, which can restrict breathing.

Experts say giving sedatives to someone who is already struggling to breathe can create a risk for death, because the drugs slow the respiratory drive. If they are unable to get enough oxygen and blow off enough carbon dioxide, their hearts can stop or they can stop breathing.

The use of sedatives by emergency medical responders outside hospitals spread rapidly over the last two decades based on a now-discredited theory. Law enforcement leaders in the 2000s were concerned by the number of people who were dying after they were shocked with police Tasers and forcibly restrained.

They began promoting a new strategy calling for officers to view encounters with severely agitated people, including those experiencing psychotic episodes or high on drugs, as medical emergencies. Rather than use force to try to gain compliance, officers were encouraged to call emergency medical services to sedate people and transport them to hospitals.

Supporters of this approach promoted a term to describe behavior they said put combative people at risk of sudden death: excited delirium.

The strategy received a boost in 2009 when the American College of Emergency Physicians recognized excited delirium and urged the rapid use of ketamine, midazolam and other drugs to treat it.

EMS agencies quickly adopted excited delirium protocols, though drugs like ketamine had not been thoroughly studied in the field. The paramedics who injected McClain with ketamine said they were following one such policy.

Critics have argued that the concept of excited delirium shifts blame from police in the deaths. The National Association of Medical Examiners and the American College of Emergency Physicians distanced themselves from the concept in 2023.

Deaths involving police often result in news headlines and criminal investigations that focus on the use of force by officers. But the AP investigation found that medical personnel who gave sedatives were often largely ignored.

The use of sedatives in nearly half the deaths has not been previously reported by news outlets. Many reasons explain this lack of attention.

Police narratives omit the use of sedatives due to medical privacy concerns. EMS treatment records are not subject to public records laws. Medical examiners view sedatives as treatments and rarely cite them as contributing factors in deaths. Investigators are unknowledgeable about the role sedatives play and uninterested in diving into the complicated details.

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

FILE - This July 25, 2014 photo shows vials of the sedative midazolam at a hospital pharmacy in Oklahoma City. An investigation led by The Associated Press published in 2024, has found the practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police spread quietly over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts. (AP Photo/File)