Police say the armed robbery suspect shot and killed by a York County Sheriff’s deputy Friday night in Limerick was a 16-year-old high school student.
The suspect was 16-year-old Christopher Camacho of Limerick, said Marc Malon, spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s Office in a news release Monday. Camacho was a student at Massabesic High School in Waterboro, according to school district officials.
Malon said that the Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Camacho died from a single gunshot wound. He was shot by York County Deputy Robert Carr during a robbery attempt at the Dollar General store. The Attorney General’s Office investigates all officer involved uses of deadly force.
The confrontation occurred around 7 p.m. Friday as Carr was responding to a report of an armed robbery in progress at the store.
“Deputy Carr engaged in an armed confrontation with the suspect when the deputy entered the store in response to a report that an employee was being held and threatened at gunpoint,” said York County Sheriff William King.
Few other details have been released about the confrontation or how it unfolded. Carr has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard practice while the use of deadly force in investigated.
Not much else is known about Camacho other than what Larry Malone, superintendent of schools for Regional School Unit 57, posted on the district’s website Monday.
“RSU 57 has been informed that the Maine Attorney General’s Office has released the identity of the individual killed in the officer involved shooting in Limerick on Friday, Dec. 27, as a 16-year-old student at Massabesic High School,” Malone wrote in a post.
Malone did not specify what grade Camacho was in, and attempts to reach Malone on Monday night were unsuccessful.
“Our hearts and condolences go out to all those touched by this tragic incident,” Malone wrote. ” Massabesic Schools will have counselors and staff available at school on January 2nd, when students return from the holiday recess.”
Malon said the shooting in Limerick is the eighth officer-involved deadly force incident of 2019 – the most recent prior to Friday involved a police chase earlier this month that started in Waterville and ended with a shootout in Canaan. The suspect in that case, 29-year-old Richard Murray-Burns of Harmony, remains hospitalized.
Murray-Burns allegedly shot and wounded a Waterville police officer who tried to pull his vehicle over to question him about a shoplifting complaint at a Walmart.
Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Monday night that Murray-Burns is recovering from his wounds. He has not yet been charged.
“We continue to monitor his condition,” McCausland said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
