LEWISTON — Residents who’ve been locked in their homes in two central Maine cities and two towns for the past two days in the wake of Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Lewiston can finally go outside, Maine’s top safety official announced Friday.
But, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck cautioned, “remain vigilant!” because “this is still absolutely a dangerous situation.”
A shelter-in-place order had been expanded Thursday to include all of Androscoggin County and Northern Sagadahoc County after police identified the murder suspect, who is from Bowdoin, remained at large and is considered armed and dangerous.
That order was later narrowed to include only Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and Bowdoin.
At a 5 p.m. press conference Friday at Lewiston City Hall, Sauschuck announced the order had been rescinded at the same time he delivered news of a hunting ban in four central Maine towns.
Not only may residents leave their homes, businesses may choose to open or remain closed, he said.
The decision to rescind the order is “something that we’ve discussed internally, as command staff members,” he said.
They considered the positive and negative impacts from the order, he said.
“We’ve got communities that are locked down, that are shut down. There are families and schools and pharmacies and all those things. So we knew going in, and we’ve acknowledged that repeatedly, we know that can have a negative impact on people.”
The reason for the order “is we had very pointed threats early on in reference to these locations, and nothing specific since then. So, you have to look at that.
And you have to do the math on that and say, ‘So were we more comfortable or are we doing more harm than good by keeping people away from these clinics and their doctors and in schools?’ And while this is still absolutely a dangerous situation, without question, we’ve got to make recommendations, and ask the people that we serve, ask the people that we protect to be vigilant, to pay attention, to listen to what we have to say.”
Sauschuck urged, “If you see something, say something.”
If something doesn’t feel right or looks strange, notify authorities, he said.
Sauschuck said his department doesn’t impose or rescind those orders “lightly, by any stretch of the imagination. But we do appreciate all the input from everybody about what does that mean and how it’s impacted me as a person.”
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