BUCKSPORT — Maine State Police say a middle-aged woman has been taken into protective custody after she was on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge this morning with a loaded shotgun.

Motorists began calling police about 10:30 a.m. to report that the woman had walked across the bridge from the Prospect side and was sitting on the bridge railing, with the gun, on the Verona Island side of the Penobscot River, said Maine State Police, in a news release.

Troopers, deputies and Bucksport Police converged on the bridge and shut traffic down as police communicated with her using a PA system in one of the cruisers.

The 54-year-old woman complied, put down the gun, and was taken into custody about 11:15 a.m., the release said. The bridge was shutdown to traffic for about 20 minutes. The woman has not been charged and was transported to a Bangor hospital for evaluation.