With probe afoot, suicide details remain sketchy

Map indicated general area of 1400 block of West Shore Drive in Acton. (Google map image)

ALFRED, Maine - Citing an active investigation, York County Sheriff William King refused to release any further details about the bizarre suicide of a man in Acton on Wednesday.

The man fatally shot himself after a short police chase in Acton after a Sheriff's Office deputy spotted a traffic violation on the man's vehicle and activated police lights and siren in an attempt to pull him over.

The man, the lone occupant of the vehicle and in his 60s, sped off but soon abruptly stopped in the 1400 block of West Shore Drive.

As the deputy approached the car the driver shot himself, King said in a statement.

Acton Rescue responded to the scene, but it was too late.

King did confirm to The Lebanon Voice on Thursday that the victim is from the Acton/Shapleigh area.

However, King neither disclosed the nature of the traffic infraction and where it was first noticed, nor whether the deputy was in or out of his vehicle when the victim fatally shot himself.

Acton is normally covered by a deputy contracted through the York County Sheriff's Office, but whether the deputy involved in the incident was a contracted lawman or from the Sheriff's Office was also not disclosed.