RUMFORD — A reportedly suicidal woman was shot twice by a Rumford police officer on Maine Avenue on Tuesday, police said.

The woman called a crisis hotline in the afternoon, and police were sent to 77 Maine Ave. to look into it, Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter said. When police arrived at the apartment, she attacked them with a knife and a Rumford officer shot her twice, the chief said.

Only one of the officers fired a gun, Carter said. He would not identify the shooter but said the officer would be on administrative leave while the Attorney General’s Office investigates the incident.

The woman was taken to Rumford Hospital for treatment, Oxford County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Christopher Wainwright said.

Authorities did not say whether the woman lived at the apartment where she was shot shortly after 5 p.m.

A neighbor, who said she knew the victim through friends, said she was “shocked” at what happened and didn’t think the woman was capable of “something like this.”

Carter said an AG investigation is standard when a police officer is involved in a shooting. He said he could release no information about the shooting.

At least three police cruisers were seen at the address, a three-story apartment building in a downtown neighborhood. Police officers were in the back of the building.

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