Man holding a burning gas can charges at police and is fatally shot by a deputy, authorities say

BELFAST, Maine (AP) — A man holding a burning gas can who charged at police was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy, authorities in Maine said.

The 65-year-old man called the Waldo County Dispatch Center on Monday afternoon and said he was going to burn down his apartment building in Belfast if law enforcement did not respond, the county sheriff’s office and the Belfast Police Department said in a joint news release.

The man continued to threaten to burn down the building as sheriff’s deputies and police arrived, the news release said. As they entered the building, the man “charged the officers with a gas can that was on fire,” and a deputy shot and killed him, it said.

The man was identified as Daniel Ryan. A search did not immediately find a phone number for him or family members.

The deputy, Sgt. Nicholas Oettinger, will be placed on administrative leave as the attorney general’s office investigates, the release said.

Oettinger worked as deputy in Monroe County, Florida, before joining the Waldo County Sheriff’s office in 2010, according to The Republican Journal.

Belfast is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Bangor.

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