Sagadahoc County prosecutors are seeking a mental examination of a Richmond man who allegedly tried to break into an apartment Wednesday morning and was shot by a man staying in the apartment.
The man, Shad A. Hembree, 42, is now at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset. He appeared before a judge in Waldo County by video Friday afternoon and his bail was set at $10,000 cash with a Maine Pretrial Services contract.
Before being taken to jail on Wednesday, Hembree received treatment for his gun shot injury at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta.
In addition to the charge of burglary of a dwelling that police filed when they arrested Hembree on Wednesday, a complaint filed by the Sagadahoc County prosecutors also charges Hembree with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and criminal mischief, according to Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Liberman.
The criminal threatening charge is related to a large metal flashlight that Hembree was allegedly holding in a threatening manner when he tried to enter the Post Road apartment early Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday, the man staying at the apartment, Trevor Whitney, 28, told the Kennebec Journal that he didn’t want to shoot Hembree, whom he had never seen before. But when it became clear Hembree was trying to force his way in, Whitney felt he had to take action to protect himself and his girlfriend.
According to Whitney, Hembree entered the home through a kitchen door around 5:30 a.m., as Whitney was preparing to leave for work.
Hembree was barefoot and wearing tattered camouflage pants, and when Whitney asked who he was and what he was doing, Hembree allegedly repeated the questions back to him. Hembree was holding a large metal flashlight, “like he had hostile intent,” Whitney said, and refused to leave.
Whitney said he then picked up his pistol, a Sig Sauer .40-caliber semi-automatic, which he uses during his work for an armored truck company, and threatened to shoot Hembree if he didn’t leave.
Looking back with a blank stare, Hembree left, Whitney said, but then returned and used the flashlight to break the glass on the apartment door. He also allegedly smashed the windows of a vehicle parked in the driveway.
When it became clear Hembree was trying to get back into the apartment, Whitney fired his weapon, striking the alleged intruder in the shoulder.
Richmond police Chief Scott MacMaster said police were called to the home around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday by a woman who said a man was in her apartment and her boyfriend was yelling at him to get out. MacMaster said Hembree’s actions might be related to mental illness and that he suffered a wound that did not appear to be serious. He called Whitney’s shot “clearly a situation of self-defense.”
A deputy from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene Wednesday morning, assessed Hembree’s injury and waited for Gardiner Rescue to arrive. Hembree was taken by ambulance to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta. Upon release, he was taken to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.
Staff writer Betty Adams contributed reporting.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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