Police tape and vehicles block off an area of Northern Avenue in Augusta in January, hours after an officer-involved shooting of an armed man who had broken into an apartment and fired at police. Keith Edwards/Kennebec Journal file

AUGUSTA — Officers with the Augusta and Capitol police departments were justified in shooting and killing an armed man who was shooting at them earlier this year, the Office of the Maine Attorney General has found.

In a report issued Friday, investigators concluded that when the officers involved shot at Liban Mohamed, they believed Mohamed, 23, of Lewiston, “posed an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to himself, other officers, and at least one civilian at the scene.”

Augusta police arrived around 11 p.m. on Jan. 21 to a third-floor apartment in a multi-unit house at 132 Northern Ave. for a report that an armed Black man had broken into the caller’s apartment and was preventing the caller’s girlfriend from leaving. The caller had left the apartment before calling 911.

According to the report, Augusta officers Matthew Gurney and Jonathan Young arrived first, followed by Sgt. Derek Daley and Officer Andrew Frost. Gurney and Young climbed the outside stairs to the third floor, with Daley following shortly after. They approached the outside door of the apartment, which was accessible by the deck.

Gurney, Young and Daley loudly identified themselves as Augusta police and ordered the occupants to come outside and show their hands, the report says. The report states they did not knock on the door at first because of the report of the man inside being armed. When their initial commands received no response, they knocked and announced themselves again.

While those officers were trying to get the occupants to respond, Augusta police Officer Andrew Frost remained on the ground in front of the building, where he was joined by Officer Ryan Frost from the Capitol Police, who arrived after the Augusta officers.

According to the report, after several minutes of knocking, a woman came outside, joining the three officers on the deck. She didn’t initially say whether anyone else was in the apartment, but under direct questioning she confirmed that a Black man she didn’t know was inside. That man was subsequently identified as Mohamed.

While the officers questioned the woman, Andrew Frost saw Mohamed break out a window in an attempt to leave the apartment and yelled repeated commands at Mohamed, identifying himself as police and ordering the man to show his hands. Ryan Frost ran up to provide support and was joined by Gurney, who had run down from the third floor and said he had seen that Mohamed had a gun.

When Mohamed returned to the window, the report states, Andrew Frost ordered him to show his hands. At that point, Mohamed fired two shots at the officers on the ground, with one striking the ground near Ryan Frost, and Ryan Frost returned fire.

Daley and Young, who were still on the third-floor deck with the woman, heard the shots from inside the apartment and positioned themselves to prevent Mohamed from escaping onto the deck. The report states they were in a vulnerable position with little cover and they were responsible for the safety of the woman. Mohamed came to the apartment door, leaned out while remaining mostly concealed, showed a handgun and fired at the officers and the woman. Young and Daley returned fire.

Gurney, who was on the ground in view of the apartment door and armed with a rifle, saw an arm sticking out of the door and the shots being fired at the people on the deck. He fired where he believed the shooter would be standing.

Mohamed stopped shooting and retreated into the apartment, and then shot at the officers on the ground. Andrew Frost and Ryan Frost had taken shelter behind a parked car, and Gurney was using the corner of a neighboring building for cover. Gurney returned fire, and the shooting from the apartment stopped.

With a search warrant, police, including the Maine State Police Tactical Team, entered the apartment and found Mohamed dead on the floor with a firearm, later identified as a Taurus 9 mm handgun, by his side with one bullet loaded and a magazine containing one cartridge. Other bullet casings were found that were identified as coming from Mohamed’s gun.

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy of Mohamed and concluded he died from three gunshot wounds.

The report concludes that Daley, Young, Gurney and Ryan Frost reasonably believed they were acting in defense of themselves and others at the time they used deadly force.

The Office of the Attorney General, which investigates the use of deadly force by police in Maine, doesn’t include any analysis of whether personnel action might be warranted, whether the use of deadly force could have been averted or whether there might be civil liability.

Since 1990, investigations by the Office of the Attorney General has found that police-involved shootings have been justified in every instance.