DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Fire Chief Joseph Guyotte, former father-in-law of the man who shot and killed another man and was later mortally wounded by police, said Wednesday he wants answers to what happened Tuesday.

“Right now I want some questions answered,” Guyotte said. “He was my son-in-law, my ex-son-in-law,” he added, referring to gunman Michael Curtis.

Curtis, 46, a Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher and Sangerville firefighter, shot and killed local maintenance worker Udo Schneider, 53, at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday outside Hilltop Manor, where Schneider had worked for more than a decade, Lt. Col. Raymond Bessette of the Maine State Police said Tuesday.

After shooting Schneider, Curtis drove his white pickup truck to the nearby Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds, where a short standoff took place. Within minutes he was shot by Maine State Police Trooper Jon Brown.

The autopsies for both Sangerville men were under way Wednesday at the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta, said Mark Belserene, administrator of the state medical examiner’s office.

“With a case like this we have to have a discussion between the [Attorney General’s] office and state police about what can be released,” he said.

Shots were reported fired at the fairgrounds at 9:48 a.m. Tuesday.

Curtis later died at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, said Bessette.

Schneider was married for 16 years to Curtis’ current wife and had two children with her, according to divorce records printed in the BDN.

“The motive — we’re still working on it,” Stephen McClausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said Wednesday afternoon. “We’re doing a number of interviews that will continue for the rest of the week.”

After Guyotte left Police Chief Dennis Dyer’s office on Wednesday, he said he still had questions.

“They said I’m too close” to the situation, he said. “They said we have to wait until the [Attorney General’s] office releases their report.

“I couldn’t even get what I’m looking for,” the fire chief added with obvious agitation in his voice. “It’s just wait and see. Mike’s mom is up there right now trying to get answers.”

The feeling of loss and camaraderie at the small town’s fire department was evident on Wednesday as firefighters spoke about the friend they lost.

“I saw more of him than I did my own family members,” Capt. Eric Berce said of Curtis, his friend for nearly 25 years. “I raised my family with his. His two girls called me uncle. It’s tearing me up.”

The double shooting is also tearing up members of the community, many of whom remember Curtis as a hardworking firefighter who “would do anything for anyone,” Berce said.

“He was good people,” his longtime friend said. “He had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know.”

Brown, who has been with the state police for four years, was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation into the shooting, which is standard procedure, Bessette said.

An eyewitness told the BDN that Curtis pulled out a pistol and shot Schneider in cold blood.

Curtis served as the fire department’s deputy chief in 2007, before leaving the post for one in Sangerville, where he recently was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, Guyotte said.

He worked as a dispatcher at the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office, said Bessette.

Schneider had worked at the Hilltop Manor for 11 years. He was the director of maintenance at two of the 11 long-term care facilities operated by Davis Long Term Care Group Inc., said Chad Cloutier, chief executive officer of the Rockland-based company.

“He was a wonderful man. I knew him well,” Cloutier said shortly after the shooting. “He was a very dedicated employee — one of our finest hardworking employees we have here.”

A team of Maine State Police detectives and investigators with the Maine Attorney General’s Office are investigating the two shootings.

Berce said he has heard his fill of the scuttlebutt flying around town about Curtis.

“If you don’t know the facts, you’re doing nobody any good — you’re just causing pain,” he said.

The firefighter ended by giving a simply statement about his friend: “He was not a monster.”

Reprinted with permission from the Bangor Daily News.