An independent commission will scrutinize issues surrounding police communication and coordination in the tense aftermath of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting, seeking further testimony from law enforcement sources, The Associated Press reports. Well-meaning officers creating chaos by showing up without being asked and officers believed to have arrived intoxicated in a tactical vehicle are among the “disturbing allegations” that have come before the commission, Chair Daniel Wathen said last week. The details were outlined in an after-action report by police in Portland, Maine. However, it’s unclear exactly what’s on the table for Friday’s meeting. Wathen said some of the things contained in the report were outside the scope of the commission’s work and best handled by police supervisors. Eighteen people were killed and 13 injured by an Army reservist at a bowling alley and a bar and grill in Lewiston. The shooter fled the scene in a vehicle that was abandoned in a nearby town.
State Police took over coordination of the search for the gunman, whose body was found dead from suicide two days later. Some of the tense moments came when law enforcement located the gunman’s vehicle several hours after the shooting. State police used a cautious approach, angering some officers who wanted to immediately search the nearby woods. Well-meaning police officers without any official assignment began showing up, raising concerns of police firing on each other in the darkness. The arrival of so many officers also contaminated the scene, making it all but impossible to use dogs to track the gunman. At one point, a tactical vehicle from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office nearly crashed into another tactical vehicle from the Portland Police Department near that scene. A Portland Police Department after-action report suggested the occupants of the Cumberland County vehicle had been drinking but the sheriff denied that his deputies were intoxicated. The governor appointed the commission which comprises seven members including mental health professionals, former prosecutors, and judges.