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Christapher Ralph Dodge

Age : 47

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/25/2023

Location : Summit Terrace Apartments

City : Portland

County : Cumberland

State : Maine

Agency : South Portland Police Department

Officer(s) :Anthony Verville

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during domestic violence response involving reported gunfire

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/25/2023, at approximately 4:11 a.m., a woman called 911 from her apartment at the Summit Terrace apartment complex in South Portland. She reported that 47-year-old Christafer Dodge was intoxicated, had assaulted her and had fired a gun inside the apartment. She also indicated that Dodge was experiencing a mental or emotional crisis, telling authorities that he was “not feeling right in the head.”
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South Portland Police Department Officers Anthony Verville and Akos Szekely were dispatched to the domestic violence call. Before they arrived, Dodge left the apartment complex in a black Ford pickup truck with an AR-style rifle.
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Verville and Szekely entered the apartment and investigated the woman's allegations. They found a broken clothing rack, rifle cartridge casings on the floor and an empty rifle case on a bed.
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Within minutes, Szekely saw Dodge's black Ford pickup return to the apartment complex. Verville and Szekely ran outside. According to the subsequent Maine Attorney General investigation, officers drew their weapons and ordered Dodge to stop and exit the truck with his hands raised.
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Police alleged that as Dodge parked the truck, he turned toward the officers and raised an AR-style rifle in their direction. Verville then fired multiple rounds into the truck, striking Dodge multiple times. Dodge died at the scene.
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Investigators recovered a .300 Blackout-caliber privately made semiautomatic AR-style rifle from Dodge's truck. The firearm had an attached sight and a magazine containing 22 cartridges.
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The Maine Attorney General's Office investigated Verville's use of deadly force with assistance from the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit. Verville was placed on administrative leave following the shooting.
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In February 2024, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey determined that Verville's use of deadly force was legally justified. The Attorney General concluded that Verville reasonably believed Dodge posed an imminent threat to himself, Szekely and residents of the apartment complex when Verville fired.
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Body-camera and/or dash-camera video documented the encounter and was reviewed during the investigation. However, when news organizations sought the recordings after the Attorney General's decision, the Attorney General's Office declined to release them, citing Maine privacy law.
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The Maine Deadly Force Review Panel subsequently reviewed the case. Its 2025 annual report, released in 2026, independently summarizes the sequence: Dodge's wife called police, Verville and Szekely responded, Dodge returned in his pickup, and Verville fired after police alleged Dodge raised a rifle and aimed it at him.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Anthony Verville was the South Portland Police Department officer who fired the shots that killed Dodge. Officer Akos Szekely was present during the fatal confrontation but is not identified as having fired. Verville therefore belongs in the Officer(s) field as the shooting officer.
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Verville had served with the South Portland Police Department for at least several years before the Dodge shooting; public police records document him making arrests for the department as early as 2017. He remains listed by the City of South Portland as a police officer.
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In January 2026, Verville was named as a defendant in a federal civil-rights lawsuit, Miller et al. v. City of Portland, Maine et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. The lawsuit also names the City of South Portland, Police Chief Daniel Ahern and several Portland and South Portland law-enforcement personnel. The litigation remained active in 2026, with discovery scheduled into 2027.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/south-portland/south-portland-fire-police-investigation-apartment-complex/97-f5bbe0b8-c3a5-4405-9c13-d340a700c0b2
https://www.pressherald.com/2023/08/25/state-police-respond-to-incident-at-south-portland-apartment/
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/08/25/portland/fatal-police-shooting-christapher-dodge-south-portland/
https://www.mainepublic.org/maine/2023-08-25/police-killed-a-man-outside-a-south-portland-apartment-complex-after-armed-confrontation
https://www.mainepublic.org/courts-and-crime/2024-02-23/maine-attorney-general-finds-south-portland-officers-use-of-deadly-force-justified
https://www.pressherald.com/2024/02/23/attorney-general-says-south-portland-police-were-justified-in-shooting-man-last-august/
https://www.maine.gov/ag/about-us/special-projects/deadly-force-review-panel/tue-03172026-1641-2025-annual-report-deadly