ROCKLAND — The 61-year-old Rockland man who said earlier this year that he heard voices telling him to shoot up a school has been charged with felony terrorizing.
Brandon M. Luzzi is free on personal recognizance bail, court records show. He appeared in court Thursday for a dispositional hearing.
Luzzi was living on Thomaston Street in Rockland across from the South Elementary School, which serves pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade classes, and Regional School Unit 13 athletic fields at the time he is accused of making the threat.
Rockland police obtained an arrest warrant in June, but it was not served on Luzzi until he was released from a psychiatric hospital. He pleaded not guilty during his initial court appearance in Knox County Court on Aug. 31.
Conditions of his bail include that he reside at a residence with an individual in South Paris, not possess firearms or other dangerous weapons, not go within 500 feet of a school unless he is traveling and passes by a school, and follow the treatment plan given to him by Maine Behavioral Health.
Originally, he also was required to be at the South Paris residence from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. daily and report weekly to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, but Judge Susan Sparaco agreed Thursday to eliminate those conditions. Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Baroody said Luzzi has work in New York as a tugboat captain.
After the hearing, Baroody said that negotiations continue and Luzzi will next appear in court on Nov. 30.
Luzzi’s threat resulted in a lockdown May 29 at schools in the Rockland area.
Rockland police received a telephone call from a woman who said that Luzzi had said he heard voices telling him to do a school shooting. The woman told police that Luzzi was a hunter and had access to guns. The woman was an out-of-state acquaintance of Luzzi’s.
Rockland police immediately sent officers and were assisted by Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who went to South School, Oceanside High School and the Mid-Coast School of Technology, all located in Rockland.
Police seized eight guns – including high-powered rifles and a flare gun – and ammunition for the weapons from Luzzi’s Thomaston Street home. He was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
An affidavit filed by Rockland police with the court for both a search warrant and later an arrest warrant says that Rockland Officer John Bagley went to Luzzi’s residence and Luzzi admitted he was hearing voices telling him to shoot up the school, but said that, “he is able to keep the voices at bay and is of no harm to anyone.”
Luzzi acknowledged that he had at least one hunting rifle in his residence, the police report said.
He then tried to re-enter his home and was taken into custody after a brief struggle, police said.
Luzzi has not obtained a hunting license from Rockland, the city clerk said. He has no criminal record in Maine. He purchased his home in March 2015.
The weapons seized were a Marlin model 60 semi-automatic rifle, an H&R 16-gauge shotgun, a Browning 0.30-06 rifle, a Savage 110CJ .270-caliber rifle, a Weatherly Mark 5 .30-06 rifle, a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, a Winchester model 94 rifle, an orange flare gun, and ammunition for all the firearms.
A review of police calls showed that Luzzi had twice earlier mentioned voices and school shooting – in September 2017 and April 2018. No action was taken after those calls.
Luzzi is represented by attorney Mike Harmon.
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