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A Dresden man killed himself during a confrontation with a Maine State Police detective in the woods of Chelsea last year.
That’s the conclusion of a Maine attorney general’s office report, released Friday, clearing Detective Scott Duff in the death of 28-year-old Frank Foss Jr.
On July 2, 2023, a woman called police to report that Foss, who lived behind her Dresden home with his girlfriend, had entered her home, appeared to be “on something” and had a gun, according to the investigators’ report.
After he left her home, the woman and her husband later told police they heard gunshots and his girlfriend yelling.
When officers arrived, they heard around a dozen gunshots. They took cover and called for Foss to come out, but got no response. Police contacted his girlfriend, who insisted he had left the area and was uncooperative, according to the report.
Police obtained a search warrant and returned the next day to Foss’ Calls Hill Road home. During the search, officers found several shell casings in the driveway and at a firing range behind the home. The girlfriend’s mother, who was present during the search, told officers she feared for her daughter, saying Foss had shot her daughter’s Chevrolet Tahoe several times.
When police later questioned the girlfriend about the bullet holes, she told officers that Foss had shot the Tahoe, but neither her nor her young child was inside it at the time, according to the report.
She also told police that Foss had “always planned to go into the woods and shoot himself” and that she believed he may have done so in the Milo area. The girlfriend warned police that he may try to commit suicide by cop, the report stated.
Despite denying she knew Foss’ whereabouts or had heard from him, a search of phone records found the two had been in steady communication since July 6, 2023, with Foss giving her directions to his location and asking her to bring him ammunition and alcohol, according to the report.
Police determined Foss was somewhere near his girlfriend’s parents’ home in Chelsea, and on July 23, 2023, police began searching the woods there for him.
While searching the “thickly wooded area” for Foss, Duff heard whistling, which he and another state trooper believed to have come from Foss.
Duff took cover by a tree while a tactical team and tracking dog entered the woods to find Foss.
While there, Duff heard sticks break behind him and saw Foss walking “intentionally and slowly” in his direction about 20 yards away. Duff didn’t believe Foss saw him, and when he came within 10 yards of him, Duff identified himself and ordered Foss to stop moving.
At that time, Foss raised his hands, with a .45-caliber handgun in his right pointed toward Duff. The detective fired two shots at Foss, who appeared to bend forward. Foss then brought the gun up to his head and fired a single shot, according to the report.
He died there in the woods.
The Maine medical examiner’s office in Augusta determined Foss died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He also had suffered a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Investigators concluded that Duff, who had been briefed on Foss’ violent criminal background and believed Foss was armed and avoiding capture, “reasonably believed” Foss was about to shoot him during their confrontation in the woods.
“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Det. Duff reasonably believed he was acting in self-defense at the time he used deadly force,” the investigators concluded.