Portland police identify officer who shot burglary suspect
Oct. 11—Portland police on Monday identified the officer who shot and wounded a possible burglary suspect as Nevin Rand.
Rand, who has been an officer in Portland since August 2018, shot Edward C. Hyman, 42, of New York City early Saturday morning while investigating a report of a burglary near the Preble Street Soup Kitchen on Oxford Street. Witnesses identified Hyman as the suspect of the burglary and Rand was attempting to speak with him when Hyman was shot, according to police.
Police have not said what happened during that interaction before Hyman was shot or whether Hyman had a weapon.
Hyman is being treated at Maine Medical Center for what police describe as non-life-threatening injuries. A spokesman for Maine Medical Center said he did not have any information available about him.
When Hyman is released, he will be charged with criminal threatening and failure to submit to arrest or detention, police said. He does not have a criminal record in Maine.
No police officers were injured during the incident.
As is standard procedure in police-involved shootings, the Maine Attorney General's Office will investigate to determine whether the use of force was justified. Rand is on paid administrative leave during the investigation, which is also standard procedure.
Over the weekend, police and the attorney general's office would not release the names of the officer or person who had been shot.
"The Portland Police Department withheld the release of this information while we positively identified Mr. Hyman along with allowing him the time needed to recover so that he could notify his family," Interim Chief Heath Gorham said in a statement on Monday. "To ensure the integrity of the investigation no further details will be released at this time. When appropriate, the department will release further information."
The Portland incident was the second shooting of the week involving a Maine police officer. A Rumford man died during a confrontation with police Friday night in Dixfield. Matthew A. Marston, 29, was shot during that incident by Officer Dustin Broughton of the Mexico Police Department but died after shooting himself, according to the attorney general's office.
The Portland Police Department's website lists two shootings in the past 10 years, both of which were ruled justified by the Maine attorney general.
In February 2017, Sgt. Nicholas Goodman fatally shot 22-year-old Chance David Baker, who was carrying a BB gun in the parking lot of a shopping plaza on St. John Street. The shooting was justified, the attorney general's investigation found, because Goodman believed Baker was carrying a lethal weapon.
Baker's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the department and the pawnshop that sold him the air rifle, and his name became a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter protesters last summer.
In November 2011, Officer Robert Miller shot Jonathan Mitchell, 29, during a vehicle chase that was part of a burglary investigation. Miller shot Mitchell as he was attempting to escape in his car. Mitchell survived, and the attorney general's office ruled the shooting justified because, under Maine law, officers may use deadly force to make an arrest or prevent a subject's escape — if they believe the subject has committed, or intends to commit, a crime that endangers human life.
