Kyle Needham, 32, of Standish was killed outside the Gorham Burger King on May 31 by Gorham Police Officer Dean Hannon, who has been an officer with the Gorham PD for the past 16 years. Needham had a criminal history dating back to 2006 and had been in and out of jail and prison with convictions for burglary, theft, drug possession and eluding an officer.

He also had many driving violations including speeding, driving to endanger and eluding an officer. His license had been revoked in May 2018 and he had outstanding warrants. Needham had been released from prison in February and was on probation. If he violated probation, he could have been returned to prison for the remaining 46 months of his sentence.

On May 31, Needham and his girlfriend, Amanda Merrifield, 33, had come to Gorham to do some shopping and went to Burger King to get lunch. Merrifield told Needham that there was “this one guy in the back who kept staring us down.” About halfway through their meal, Needham saw unmarked cars coming into the parking lot. The couple ran from the restaurant into the back parking lot but as soon as they got into their truck, three police cruisers blocked them in.

According to Merrifield, the officers yelled for them to get out of the truck as two of the officers came up on either side of the truck with their guns drawn. One officer opened the passenger door and tried to get Merrifield out. Needham put the truck in reverse in an attempt to escape between two of the cruisers. Both officers backed away as soon as the truck began to move and Officer Hannon fired through the driver’s window from about six feet away, hitting Needham in the torso. Needham moved the steering wheel to the left, hitting one of the cruisers before coming to a stop.

Merrifield said that Needham “would have gotten out of the situation with not a scratch on any of those vehicles. The second he started to accelerate a little bit, the cop shot him.”

All police involved shootings in Maine are investigated by the Attorney General’s Office. Officer Hannon said he thought Needham was about to run over an officer and that is why he fired at Needham. Gorham Police Chief Dan Jones declined to comment on this case while it is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office