RICHMOND

A Richmond man was shot this morning while allegedly breaking into a neighbor’s apartment on Post Road.

Richmond Police Chief Scott MacMaster said Shad Hembree, 42, is charged with felony burglary, and could face other charges.

MacMaster said at 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, the Sagadahoc County Communications Center received a call from a woman reporting an intruder in her residence — an apartment located above a garage. She told dispatchers her boyfriend, armed with a semi-automatic .40 caliber handgun, managed to persuade the intruder to leave, and then that the intruder was attempting to break down the door to regain entry.

Once Hembree started breaking down the locked door and had knocked out the glass, the boyfriend shot Hembree in the shoulder below the clavicle, MacMaster said. 

At that point, Hembree ran down the outside stairs and began beating on the resident’s car with a metal flashlight. 

“He then runs up the stairs, sits down in a chair next to a barbecue and stares in at the victims,” MacMaster said.

Hembree sat there until police arrived and took him into custody. He was transported by Gardiner Rescue to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta where he remained late Wednesday morning. He was expected to be released later in the day.

Hembree is a neighbor of the victims, who told police they’d never met or talked to him. 

During the incident, the woman stayed on the phone with dispatchers, providing a play-by-play account of the incident. Her boyfriend, who was in the military and served tours in Iraq, was concerned about the situation MacMaster said, but was able to make a tough decision within a split second to take the shot. He does not face any charges at this time. 

“It was pretty clear from the 911 call and officer interviews that this was a case of self-defense, and he actually went above and beyond by getting the suspect out of the apartment and locking the door,” MacMaster said. “But as soon as the barrier between the suspect and victim was breached, he felt an imminent concern for the safety of himself and the safety of his girlfriend, so he fired that single shot.”

The man was getting ready for work and just by luck hadn’t left yet when Hembree appeared.

“They have been completely cooperative,” MacMaster said of the couple. 

MacMaster said that police believe mental illness is a factor in the incident.

The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department responded to help Richmond officers and a detective assisted with processing the scene and gathering evidence. MacMaster said an off-duty Brunswick officer headed to the gym also heard the call and responded.

dmoore@timesrecord.com