ROCKLAND — The final charge was dismissed Thursday against a 62-year-old Rockland man who caused a Rockland-area school lockdown in May 2018 when he told a friend that voices in his head were telling him to shoot up a school.
The misdemeanor terrorizing charge against Brandon M. Luzzi was dismissed during a hearing in Knox County Superior Court. A felony terrorizing charge had been dismissed in January when he reached a deferred disposition with the district attorney’s office.
Luzzi met the conditions of that agreement by receiving mental health treatment.
Brandon Luzzi Photo from LinkedIn
In January, Justice Bruce Mallonee praised the two sides for focusing on treating Luzzi’s mental health condition rather than trying to win the case at trial.
Luzzi’s attorney, Michael Harman, said at Thursday’s hearing that the case had received considerable media coverage and praised the Rockland Police Department and the district attorney’s office for showing a high degree of understanding. He said he wanted to commend the agencies.
Judge Paul Mathews recommended that Harman send a letter to the police department, thanking it for how the case was handled.
In January, then-Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Baroody said the agreement followed the policy of new District Attorney Natasha Irving on getting treatment for mentally ill people who have been charged with crimes.
Baroody had said Luzzi was in an entirely different place mentally than he was in May 2018 when the incident occurred.
Luzzi. who had worked as a tugboat captain, had been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric treatment facility by the court, and will be prohibited from possessing firearms.
Harman had said in January that Luzzi was diagnosed with auditory canal hallucinations. The mental heath review said there was a possibility he was also experiencing early onset dementia, Harman said.
The agreement allows Luzzi to return to his home on Thomaston Street across from South Elementary School, which serves pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade classes, and Regional School Unit 13 athletic fields.
In January, Harman had said that Luzzi planned to continue living in Oxford County with a friend, where he has been staying since being released from Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.
Baroody said in January that he had been in contact with the superintendent of RSU 13 and that he was in general support of the agreement.
Rockland police received a telephone call on May 29, 2018, from an acquaintance of Luzzi’s who lives out of state. She said that he had called her and 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 Rockland Police Department immediately sent officers and was assisted by Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who went to South School, Oceanside High School and the Mid-Coast School of Technology, all 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.
An affidavit filed by Rockland police with the court for a search warrant and later an arrest warrant said that Rockland Officer John Bagley went to Luzzi’s residence and Luzzi admitted he was hearing voices telling him to shoot up the school.
Luzzi acknowledged that he had at least one hunting rifle in his residence, the police report said.
The Rockland man then attempted to enter his home and was taken into custody after a brief struggle, the affidavit said.
Luzzi has no criminal record.
Luzzi spoke briefly during the January hearing and said the treatment at Riverview was marvelous. He also told the judge that a quarter of young males suffer from some sort of mental illness.
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