Maine AG Releases Video of 'Outlaws' Shooting

Maine's attorney general released a video clip today of federal agents' attempt to arrest an Outlaws' motorcycle gang member last summer at a small house on Sandy Circle.

The agents shot and killed Thomas Mayne on June 15 during a nationwide roundup of 27 members of the Outlaws, four of them in Maine.

Attorney General Janet Mills announced Tuesday that the agents were justified in using dead More..ly force in self-defense against Mayne, 58, a former enforcer with the Outlaws motorcycle gang.

The video is silent for the first 11 seconds, when police can be seen walking slowly toward the brown house, past a car and a pickup truck parked in the driveway.

The sound starts just after several puffs of smoke burst from windows, indicating shots fired from inside the house.

The remainder of the 1-minute, 31-second video includes the sound of rapid gunfire and an agent shouting for people to come out of the house with their hands raised above their heads. It also shows heavy smoke from gunfire rising above the house and police moving quickly around the property.

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved in Mayne's arrest because he was considered a high-risk suspect, Mills said in her report, which was based on intreviews with 40 people and forensic evidence.

Mayne had shot a member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang in Canaan during a feud between the two clubs and had boasted about becoming famous for resisting arrest.

When ATF agents, state police troopers and Old Orchard Beach police descended on the house at 5 Sandy Circle, they were met with gunshots fired from a window.

Four of the ATF agents, armed with rifles, returned fire, shooting a total of 20 rounds, the report said. The exchange took seven seconds.

Mayne's body was found inside, still clutching a six-shot, .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol that he had emptied toward the officers. Police also found a rifle and a shotgun in the room.

Six of the agents' rounds hit Mayne in the head and neck. A seventh round injured both legs, the report said. Nobody else was injured.

Mills concluded that when the agents fired at Mayne, they believed deadly force was being used against them and it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others, according to her report.

The report didn't identify the ATF officers who fired, saying that releasing their identities could put them in danger.

Mayne was the Outlaws' regional treasurer when he was killed. His arrest warrant was the result of a months-long undercover investigation that yielded warrants for, among others, Outlaws national President Jack Rosga of Milwaukee.

The indictment issued in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., alleged conspiracy, drug trafficking, illegal possession of firearms, attempted murder and witness tampering.