DOVER-FOXCROFT — Two men were shot to death Tuesday morning – one of them by a state trooper – in a series of events that began at a nursing home and ended at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds.
Udo Schneider, 53, of Sangerville was shot outside the Hilltop Manor nursing home about 9 a.m., said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
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Schneider reportedly was shot by Michael Curtis, 46, also of Sangerville, who then left in his pickup truck.
The truck was seen at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds, where police confronted Curtis, who was shot by state police Trooper Jon Brown, McCausland said.
Investigators said Schneider and Curtis knew each other, but police were still trying late Tuesday to determine what sparked the violence, McCausland said.
Schneider was a maintenance worker at the nursing home and Curtis worked for the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office, McCausland said. Curtis was described as a radio dispatcher for the department in prior newspaper reports.
McCausland said that by late Tuesday afternoon, investigators had not determined the relationship between the two men or the motive for the initial shooting. “Schneider was shot multiple times,” he said.
Brown, who joined the state police in 2008, has been put on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure after a police shooting, McCausland said.
Brenda Kielty, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said the office is investigating Curtis’s death because a police officer was involved.
Autopsies on both men are scheduled at the state Medical Examiner’s Office.
Curtis’ death was the third police shooting this month in Maine.
Army veteran Justin Crowley-Smilek, 28, of Farmington was shot and killed by a police officer Nov. 19 in front of the Farmington municipal building.
Crowley-Smilek was shot multiple times by Farmington Officer Ryan Rosie. Police said Crowley-Smilek had a knife and threatened Rosie.
On Nov. 10 in Rumford, a Maine warden shot an administrative officer with the Rumford Police Department.
Warden Jeremy Judd, 34, shot Eric Richard, 46, during what police described as an armed confrontation.
Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at: dharlow@centralmaine.com
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