KITTERY, Maine (AP) — Authorities reported that a man who was being chased for the murder of a woman in New Hampshire was shot by police and subsequently fell from the Interstate 95 bridge linking New Hampshire to Maine. Sadly, an 8-year-old boy was found dead in the man’s vehicle.
The boy’s death was determined to be unrelated to the gunfire. This shooting occurred after the man exited his vehicle, brandishing a weapon, despite attempts by police negotiators to communicate with him. Colonel William Ross, head of the Maine State Police, shared this information with the media. Once the confrontation escalated, the man fell from the bridge, and his body was later recovered from the Piscataqua River by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Following the incident, the Piscataqua River Bridge was closed for approximately seven hours but reopened Thursday morning, according to Maine State Police. Traffic became heavy on both sides as vehicles were rerouted to alternate bridges.
The situation began around 2 a.m. Thursday when the man contacted the police to report a domestic dispute involving his wife in Troy, New Hampshire. Investigators subsequently discovered a woman’s body approximately 100 miles away in western New Hampshire.
The authorities tracked the man’s vehicle to the bridge that connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Kittery, Maine, which is a vital route used by tens of thousands of vehicles each day. As the situation escalated, a Maine State Trooper and two New Hampshire Troopers fired their weapons when the man stepped out of his vehicle and lifted his firearm. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire soon after 4 a.m.
Authorities were not aware that the boy was in the car until after the shooting occurred. Colonel Ross emphasized that it was “abundantly clear” the boy was not harmed by any of the bullets fired during the encounter.
Names of those involved have not yet been released. The Piscataqua Bridge sees between 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles daily, as per the Maine Department of Transportation.
The incident unfolded during a period of lighter traffic on Interstate 95, but the scene quickly became congested as police halted traffic in both directions for several hours. The man’s body was retrieved around 8:30 a.m., according to Ross. There are numerous cameras monitoring traffic on the bridge; however, none recorded the shooting since they aren’t configured to do so, stated Paul Merrill, a representative from the Maine Department of Transportation.
—-
This report includes contributions from Associated Press writers David Sharp and Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, as well as Kathy McCormack from Concord, New Hampshire, and Caleb Jones from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
