PORTLAND — A man who shot a woman in the chest with a pellet gun sparking a six-hour standoff with police was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in prison.
Brian Kelley, 48, was charged with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon after the May 5 incident on Cedar Street.
Additional Photos
He pleaded guilty in Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court to the reckless conduct charge in exchange for the others being dropped. Superior Court Judge Mary Kelly sentenced Kelley to four years in prison with all but nine months suspended and two years probation.
Kelley fired the high-powered pellet gun out a second-floor window of 19 Cedar St., hitting 46-year-old Lisa Marie Powers in the chest as she stood in front of the house. She was visiting friends in the building, but Kelley ordered her to leave, and the two argued prior to the shooting. She and Kelley apparently did not know each other prior to the shooting.
The incident happened at 11 a.m. on a Saturday as hundreds of high school students took the SAT college placement exam at nearby Portland High School. The school was locked down, though many of the students were oblivious to the tense standoff.
Powers was treated at the hospital for a pellet lodged above her spleen and was later released.
Police surrounded the house, but they had information that Kelley had access to other firearms, including an assault rifle, so they evacuated the neighborhood.
Police eventually sent in the special reaction team, which fired tear gas into the house. Kelley came running out the front door to escape the gas and was arrested.
Police found two assault rifles, a handgun and a hunting rifle in the building.
Kelley also faced civil penalties for creating a police standoff, an expensive undertaking for the department, but police said Kelley has no money so it made little sense to pursue that.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.