Man faces multiple charges after active shooter incident Tuesday night in Rumford

A burned-out pickup truck, which police said was driven by Billy Morvent, 59, of Rumford, was spotted Wednesday morning after crashing into a neighbor’s home on State Route 232 Tuesday evening. Police Chief Tony Milligan said Morvent shot at people in the house and set it on fire before returning to his home at 76 State Route 232, where he was found early Wednesday morning with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Morvent was admitted to a Portland hospital in stable condition, Police Chief Tony Milligan said. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

RUMFORD — A local man was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in his home early Wednesday morning, hours after police said he drove his truck into a nearby home, set it on fire and shot people there .

Billy Morvent, 59, of 76 State Route 232, was in stable condition at Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was under police protection, Rumford Police Chief Tony Milligan said in a statement Wednesday.

He was initially charged with threatening with a deadly weapon, reckless conduct and aggravated criminal coercion.

The incident began around 8 p.m. when the Oxford County Regional Communications Center south of Paris received 911 calls reporting that shots had been heard near Morvent’s residence. As Rumford police responded, additional calls reported that Morvent had left his home, driven his pickup truck into the Matthew Thurston residence at Jade’s Homegrown Farms at 61 State Route 232 and was pointing a rifle at people and the residence, according to Milligan shot.

Officers learned that Morvent, still armed, had fled on foot into the neighborhood. Three people were reportedly hiding in a nearby ditch and Thurston’s home was burning.

Multiple law enforcement teams worked together to contain the area, provide protection to a limited group of firefighters, rescue the three people hiding in the ditch and protect surrounding residents, the chief said.

Drones equipped with thermal imaging, provided by the Norwegian police, the Rumford and Jay fire departments and the Maine State Police, are helping with searches, monitoring victims and supporting officers’ movements.

Residents were alerted through social media and the Maine Emergency Management Agency’s integrated public alert and warning system and advised to shelter in place.

Negotiators with the Maine State Police tactical team managed to convince Morvent to surrender peacefully shortly before 1 a.m. after he was held at his home.

Rumford police confiscated several firearms and a large cache of ammunition from the home and recovered the AR rifle believed to have been used in the incident.

Milligan said the Oxford County and Franklin County sheriff’s offices, Maine State Police, Paris, Norway, Wilton police departments and the Maine Warden Service provided assistance. Fire departments from Rumford and neighboring towns, along with the Rumford Highway Department, set up roadblocks in the area.

He said the Rumford Police Department is cooperating with investigators from the Office of State Fire Marshal and the district attorney’s office in the criminal investigation and is expected to file additional charges.

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