Duplex on the left where the body of a woman was found early Thursday in Troy, NH. JEFFREY HASTINGS photo

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

KITTERY, Maine – Maine State Police stressed at an afternoon news conference that an eight-year-old child found dead in the back of a car near where police officers engaged in a fatal shooting early Thursday was not shot by police.

The child’s father was on the I-95 bridge with New Hampshire, and after negotiations with him failed, the man raised a weapon and Maine and New Hampshire police fatally shot him hours after his report that he killed his wife in Troy, N.H. 

The three dead following the incident are all members of the same family, said Maine State Police Col. William Ross at the news conference. They were not identified.

Ross led a press briefing Thursday afternoon in Kittery noting that one Maine State Trooper and two New Hampshire State Police were involved in the shooting at about 4:30 a.m. on the Maine-New Hampshire state line on the Piscataqua River Bridge on I-95.

He said police in York, Maine, received a 9-1-1 call after 2:07 a.m. from the man who said he got into a fight with his wife in Troy and that she was dead.

NH State Police went to the duplex on Monadnock Street in Troy where a family had recently moved into the neighborhood and found a woman’s body dead with a gunshot wound and the child who lived there missing.

Ross said at about 2:30 a.m. police were able to trace the man’s cell phone to the bridge and found the vehicle stopped on the southbound side and began to engage him in “negotiations.”

After a period of time, that failed and the man exited the vehicle holding a firearm. When police engaged, he was shot and his body fell into the river below. The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the body almost immediately.

It was only after the shooting that police found the body of an eight-year-old child in the car, Ross said.

“I want to stress that this is an ongoing investigation and we are not going to be able to give you all the details at this point,” Ross said.

He said the man had “raised a firearm” but did not indicate whether he pointed the weapon at the police officers.

All officers involved are now on administrative leave as is customary following any officer involved shooting.

He said the child’s fatal injuries were not related to the officers’ use of deadly force.

“I want to stress that this death is not associated with the officers’ use of deadly force. I want to stress this right now that the child’s death is not associated with the police officers’ use of deadly force today. We have information that that is not the case. I just want to make sure that everyone is clear on that moving forward,” Ross said.

He did not indicate whether the man died of gunshot wounds or the impact of the fall into the river but the man was declared dead at the scene.

He said Maine State Police Major Crimes and the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes will be investigating the deaths of the female and the child. The Maine Attorney General’s office is in charge of the officer involved shooting of the man.

The incident occurred on the center of the bridge which is the border between New Hampshire and Maine and an interstate bridge. It remained closed in both directions due to the investigation but reopened at 9:30 a.m.