Maine AG rules officer justified in shooting despite 37-foot distance

A police officer was justified in shooting a man in Bangor, despite a review of evidence that showed the officer was farther away from the man than previously thought, Maine’s attorney general said.

Attorney General Aaron Frey conducted a second review of the shooting of Brian Barker, who was shot three times and survived in 2018. Frey said Friday that his office determined that the officer was more than 37 feet away from Barker and not about 15 feet as it initially stated.

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Frey said Barker’s movements leading up to the shooting still represented enough of a threat to justify the use of deadly force, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Bangor police officers were checking on Barker and saw that he had a knife, which they repeatedly asked him to put down. Frey said Barker’s movements before the shooting made it unclear if he was going to attempt to attack one of the officers on the scene, the Daily News reported.

The 21-foot distance marker between officers and a suspect is sometimes referred to as “kill zone” because officers are taught that at that distance an armed person can quickly close the distance.