Man shot by police dies, ID'd as robbery suspect

Benjamin Shannon ... died overnight at Maine Med. (Rochester Police photo)

ROCHESTER - The man shot as law enforcement officers sought to execute an arrest warrant on Monday inside the Saks Trailer Park has died.

Benjamin Shannon, 34, who was arrested last month for allegedly robbing George and Ed’s convenience store on North Street, died overnight at Maine Medical Center in Portland where he had been airlifted after the incident.

According to a press release around noon today from the state Attorney General’s office, “The incident began when three Department of Corrections Probation and Parole Officers and a Strafford County Deputy Sheriff went to arrest a male subject at 28 Periwinkle Drive in Rochester. That subject has been identified as Ben Shannon … of Rochester. Shannon was treated for a gunshot wound and eventually flown to the Maine Medical Center in Portland. Mr. Shannon died last night.”

Periwinkle Drive residents today said they’d heard the rumors that he had died. They said the mobile home where the shooting took place was the home of his mother and another female.

One man who lived inside the trailer park said he’d known Shannon growing up in Farmington, and said while he wasn’t always an angel, he never could’ve seen something like this happening.

He said Shannon was an accomplished fighter and had done some amateur bouts in the sport known as cage fighting.

He said he’d heard about the George and Ed’s robbery incident and acknowledged Shannon had had some problems with alcohol and drug abuse, but he couldn’t for the life of him wrap his head around his taking on four law enforcement officers over a parole violation.

Parole/probation officers were reportedly at the home to arrest Shannon for just such an offense.

Moments after they went inside the mobile home gunfire erupted, and Rochester Police got a call for “shots fired.”

Several people inside the park said today they’d heard rumors about whether he was shot once or multiple times, but no official word from investigators has been released.

Rochester Police have referred all questions to the state Attorney General’s office.

A Rochester Police cruiser kept guard at the mobile home today.

Meanwhile, residents who lived on Periwinkle Drive described a chaotic scene as lawmen first arrived on Monday.

One resident, Thomas McCabe who formerly lived in Lebanon, said that police came “flying” down the road and was surprised they didn’t break their tires on the icy potholes. He said he never heard a gunshot.

Crystal Kelly, who also lives on Periwinkle Drive, said first there were three Rochester Police cars with sirens wailing speeding down the road, followed by nine more and that officers pulled shotguns out. Soon State Police and Sheriff’s Deputies arrived as well as undercover lawmen, she said.

None of the residents spoken to said they’d heard a gunshot. Many of the residents seemed to take the incident in stride, but others were unnerved.

Today several park residents were patrolling Periwinkle Drive in an effort to keep the media hordes away.

“This is too much,” one man said. “It’s getting to be a circus.”

Since Shannon died in Maine, the autopsy will be performed by the Maine state medical examiner.

The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office into the shooting continues.