SMYRNA, Maine — Deputies had responded to a call about a dispute between Kenneth Kreyssig and his elderly mother at a local restaurant the day before he died in an armed confrontation with officers, according to the Aroostook County Sheriff.
Sheriff Darrell Crandall said Friday that his office had not had any police contact with the 61-year-old Kreyssig until Monday, Feb. 9, when deputies were sent to the Brookside Inn, a motel and restaurant on U.S. Route 2 in Smyrna, in response to a call about a dispute there.
“Kreyssig had gotten into an argument with his mother,” Crandall said. “We interviewed the mother and the witnesses and spoke to him. She did not want to file any charges against him.”
The sheriff said the two were separated, and Kreyssig stayed somewhere else that evening.
The next night, however, Kreyssig’s brother contacted the sheriff’s office and requested that police go to 645 Smyrna Center Road and check on his mother.
“He was concerned about his brother’s behavior,” Crandall said.
Kreyssig’s brother did not live in the home, but lives in Greater Houlton. He told police that there were guns in the home.
“After the deputy determined that there were guns in the home, he requested that a state trooper accompany him,” Crandall said Friday.
Kreyssig died in the armed confrontation with the deputy and trooper that occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Smyrna Road home, according to Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.
Crandall said Kreyssig’s mother left the home after the shooting with her other son.
The two officers involved — State Police Sgt. Chad Fuller and Deputy Stewart Kennedy — were not injured. McCausland said earlier this week that both men were placed on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure in the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting.
McCausland did not release information about which officer fired shots or whether Kreyssig died at the scene.
The sheriff said Friday he could not release any additional information about the case, but he added it’s a situation every officer hopes never to experience.
“Obviously, this is not the way we train for these situations to end, and it is not the way we hope that they will end,” Crandall said.
Kreyssig’s body was taken to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The results were not available Friday.
