Good Guy with a Gun #31: Sanford, ME
Original incident: December 1, 2023. A food truck owner was setting up for a parade when a mentally imbalanced man started freaking out in traffic. One shot ended what could have been much worse.
If you ever find yourself in Sanford, Maine, go look for a food truck named Addy’s. It’s owned by David and Miranda Poto — it’s named after their now-fifteen-year-old daughter, Addison, in fact — and all four of their daughters pitch in to run it.
On Friday, the first of December, the Potos were setting up for the Holly Daze parade that evening. A Friday night with a parade would make for a busy and profitable night. Miranda was mounting a sign as the girls watched Christmas movies in the truck.
Then David and Miranda heard shouting. A truck’s tires squealed, and they saw it speeding away from a man in the intersection.
And no wonder: He was holding a knife, spinning around in the street with his arms wide open, threatening cars and pedestrians nearby. Something was clearly wrong with him: He was scrawny and dirty, and his clothing consisted of spandex, a baggy sweatshirt, and a sheet. David said it looked “like a Jesus outfit.”
David retrieved a gun from the truck1 as Miranda saw the man try to smash his way into a car.
David figured that the man was a danger to the people coming in for the parade, and he could keep him in check until the police arrived. So he called out to him.
And the man responded. He turned toward David and started advancing, holding the knife, shouting something that might have been, “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill myself. Kill me.”
I can only imagine the effect that that had on David. “He was begging me to kill him,” David said. “Just pure insanity.”
He also said, with abundant understatement, “I can tell you 100% this person was not interested in de-escalation or going about his day. He was looking for somebody to target and hurt.”
But the statements came later. In the moment, he didn’t have time to think. David pulled the gun into a firing position and backed up, trying to get him to stop, but the man kept coming — holding the knife the whole time.
When the man was just five feet away, David finally fired a round into the man’s leg. I’m not a fan of shooting at limbs, but it did the trick this time: The man was stopped but not killed.
“I hate the fact that somebody had to get hurt,” David said. “I hate the fact that he put me in that position in the first place. I didn’t want any part of it.”
The man was Ashe “Scott” Schaffer, 29. He was taken to the hospital and arrested upon release, being charged with criminal threatening and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.
That’s the end of the incident, but there’s a very nice postscript to this story.
The Potos probably lost several thousand dollars because of the incident and the follow-on police activity. The Sanford community knew that.
So on the following Tuesday, they all came out to Addy’s in a show of support. (Special thanks to Jason Cole, who owns Kona Ice of York County, for organizing it.) By the time they were done, there wasn’t so much as a pizza roll left on the truck.
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Sources
The initial Portland Press Herald story was good, containing the information they had at the time, but the follow-up was a really exemplary job, with lots of discussion with the couple and pictures of Abby’s. They also published an article when Schaffer was charged.
Seacoast Online’s reporting was similarly good. There was a paywall, but Cam Edwards at Bearing Arms gave a link that breaks through the paywall.
WGME 13 did a good job, writing three articles: one initial report, one follow-up with community reactions, and a final article about the community rallying behind the Potos.
WMTW 8 gave an initial report and a brief follow-up. There’s not much detail here: With all the other great reporting on this story, theirs stands out as pretty weak.
Fox23 only had one article, published after Schaffer was charged. They link to the WGME 13 articles.
WABI 5 had one brief article.
The Bangor Daily News covered the story based on Portland Press Herald coverage.
News Center Maine apparently summarized a few press releases. “Sanford police declined to identify the food truck owner or the name of the food truck business,” they said, but come on — that information might not have been known for their initial report, but it was easily available by the time they published their second article on December 12, when Schaffer was charged.
2A community coverage
In the 2A community, Cam Edwards at Bearing Arms gave a great write-up, using Seacoast Online article as his primary source. (That’s paywalled, but I discovered after completing my write-up that Cam’s link breaks through it.)
Cam also found the Addy’s online menu, which I thought was a great touch, and which I incorporated into this article. Thanks, Cam!
Sam Hoober at USA Carry also covered this event very nicely.
Both articles note that shooting at the leg isn’t necessarily a wise strategy. It worked out for David this time, though, and we’re all grateful for that.
That thing that never happens, happens every day.
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Reporting varies with respect to whether he had it on him or had to retrieve it from the truck. The weapon was a Glock 43X 9mm pistol.