LOVELL — Maine’s attorney general said an Oxford County Sheriff’s deputy was justified in shooting and wounding a 31-year-old Lovell man, according to a report released Monday.

According to the report, Oxford County Cpl. George Cayer shot Dennis Buffington, Jr., once in the left thigh and once in the chest as a result of an armed confrontation in the early morning hours of May 20, 2015, at a residence on Nuthatch Road in Lovell.

Buffington had been “drinking and partying with friends and relatives” when he went to a neighbor’s home in the early morning hours, the report said. Buffington lived with his girlfriend at his grandmother’s home at 50 Nuthatch Road. At some point, the report said, the neighbors told Buffington to leave because of his “unruly and threatening behavior,” and Buffington’s girlfriend refused to go home with him “because he was intoxicated and had become verbally abusive.”

Buffington did leave for a short time, but returned wielding a shotgun. He made verbal threats toward his girlfriend and shot the gun into the ground when the neighbor refused him entry into the house, spraying the neighbor with gravel as a result of the ground shot, the report said. Buffington drove off in his girlfriend’s pickup truck, at some point using the vehicle to ram into the neighbor’s house.

According to the report, shortly before 1 a.m., a 911 caller from the neighbor’s house first reported the situation to the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in Paris. While officers were responding, another call let officers know that Buffington had returned to the residence and that he had a shotgun, which he discharged again while outside, and that he had access to other weapons in his grandmother’s house next door.

Several officers, including Cayer, arrived at the neighbor’s home and set up a staging area, unaware of Buffington’s whereabouts. The report stated that police evacuated the neighbor’s house while Cayer and Maine State Police Trooper Adam Fillebrown positioned themselves near Buffington’s residence where they believed him to be.

Cayer and Fillebrown saw Buffington outside the residence, according to the report, and heard him shouting threats at them, including, “I’m going to kill you” and “c’mon mother [expletive], I’m going to kill someone tonight.]”

At first, Buffington did not appear to be armed, so the officers approached him. As they did so, he disappeared from their view, and they saw him retreat into the residence. When he re-emerged, he was shouting and “picked up what the officers believed to be a long gun,” the report said. He continued to shout threats at the officers, swinging the gun in his hand. He returned to the house and sat in a chair on the porch with the firearm on his lap, with the muzzle pointed toward the officer.

According to the investigation report, Buffington sat in the chair for a few minutes before getting up and walking directly at the officers swinging the gun and threatening to kill them. Cayer shot once at Buffington when he was within 60 to 75 feet of the officers. Buffington doubled over before turning and running toward his residence.

“Corporal Cayer, concerned that Mr. Buffington could harm persons in the residence or take up a barricaded position, fired an additional round, which also struck Mr. Buffington but did not stop him from entering the residence,” the report said.

Buffington’s grandmother, who was inside at the time on the phone with a police dispatcher, left the residence. When Buffington left the house a short time later, police took him into custody, providing medical aid until an ambulance transported him to Bridgton Hospital.

According to Sun Journal reports, he was later flown to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he underwent surgery.

Buffington, who had no prior violent criminal history, appeared in court less than a week later. He was charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, aggravated criminal mischief, driving to endanger, discharge of a firearm near a dwelling, and six counts of reckless conduct.

As is standard procedure in police shootings, the attorney general is responsible for overseeing all criminal investigations of law enforcement officers who use deadly force while on the job.

According to the report, “Attorney General Janet T. Mills has concluded that at the time Corporal Cayer shot Mr. Buffington, he reasonably believed that unlawful deadly force was imminently threatened against not only himself but Trooper Fillebrown and other officers within range of Mr. Buffington’s weapon, as well as other persons with whom Mr. Buffington would come in contact if permitted to re-enter the residence.”

Cayer had been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation. A statewide panel cleared Cayer of any wrongdoing on June 12, 2015, and he was allowed to return to work.

[email protected]