Pittsfield Police Arrest Maine Murder Suspect
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Police arrested a man on a warrant for murder in Maine after a pursuit Friday that prompted Pittsfield schools to enact a brief lockdown.
Keith Thorpe, 42, of Bangor is wanted in the homicide of 39-year-old Virginia Cookson, who was found dead in her home Wednesday.
Police posted on social media that officers were actively tracking a stolen vehicle from in a neighboring state earlier in the morning. Thorpe was caught near Euclid Avenue after making contact with a cruiser.
Thorpe is also being charged with numerous motor vehicle offenses and is expected to be arraigned at Pittsfield District Court and to extradited to Maine.
"As a precaution during the motor vehicle pursuit, all local schools were asked to shelter in place and based on the location of Taconic High School, that school was locked down," the Pittsfield Police Department wrote in a press release.
"The school safety actions lasted approximately five minutes."
A post-mortem examination was conducted Thursday on Cookson at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta, Maine, and her death was determined to be a homicide and an arrest warrant was issued for Thorpe for murder.
Just before 4 a.m. on Friday, the Pittsfield Police responded to a single motor vehicle crash near the intersection of West and Onota Streets. The car was unoccupied and items within led officers to believe that the operator may have been Thorpe, sparking an unsuccessful area search.
A few hours later, police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle on West Housatonic Street, and a "be on the lookout" was broadcast. Around 8:30 a.m., the stolen vehicle was located and officers were led on a motor vehicle pursuit that included the areas of West Street and intersecting streets.
"The suspect vehicle crossed the center divider, passed cars in a no-passing zone, and failed to stop for police," according to police.
"It should be noted that school bus operations were active at this time. The vehicle was eventually stopped in the area of Euclid Avenue after making contact with a police vehicle. No significant injuries were reported."
The operator of the stolen vehicle was positively identified as Thorpe and he was taken into custody without incident.
Neither Thorpe nor Cookson have any known connection to Pittsfield, police said, and no documented calls for service before today's event.
No further information is available at this time and some of the information in the press release was provided by Detective Tim Shaw of the Bangor Police Department.
Police had previously posted on Facebook that "The vehicle lead officers on a pursuit in the area of outer West St. and eventually headed back towards the city. Several attempts to stop the subject before passing Crosby Elementary were unsuccessful. The subject was apprehended moments later after attempting to flee on a dead-end street."
The post read that the suspect was believed to be wanted for "a very serious crime," which warranted the shelter-in-place for all schools that lasted five minutes.
"The Pittsfield Police Department asked all schools to shelter in place due to a community related incident (not related to our schools). The shelter in place lasted 5 minutes. We have no further information," the school district posted Friday morning.
Crosby Elementary School, located at 517 West St. was in the area of the pursuit.
"We understand how frightening this may have been to parents and children going to and from Crosby, but based on the subject's charges out of state we believed we needed to do everything in our power to apprehend him," the police wrote.
"Thankfully, the subject was taken into custody without injury to anyone."
Around noontime, Superintendent Joseph Curtis relayed this police's narrative to the district, explaining "The Pittsfield Public Schools has no other information at this time."
Complete write-thru at 3 p.m.
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