MANCHESTER, NH — Nickenley Turenne, 24, was running from police the day he was killed in an officer-involved shooting on Dec. 6, 2025, because he had a protective order against him by his girlfriend, Nikki Murray, who was with him the day he was shot, according to his father Enick Turenne.
Officers responded to a call about a suspicious parked vehicle around 4:43 a.m. on Dec 6, 2025. After he was approached by police, Turenne fled at high speeds until he crashed nearby. Turenne, a Black man, was shot by three officers Brandon Baliko, Andre Chan, and Devin Lambert while attempting to flee on foot, according to a press release from Attorney General John Formella, who is investigating the incident.
Nikki Murray said Turenne was unarmed that day, harmless, and scared when he ran from the officers.
Court records show that Murray, 26 — who had been dating and living with Turenne for about a year before his death — was granted an order of protection against Turenne, who was arrested on May 26, 2025, for harassing and stalking her. In her domestic violence petition May 18, 2025, Murray said Turenne “threw me around the apartment, made me unable to breath multiple times, stuck fingers down my throat, cracked my ribs, trapped me in a room and withheld my phone from me, (and) pinned me to the ground.”
She was granted a final order of protection on July 7, 2025 that was in effect for one year – until July 6 of this year so it was still in effect when police shot Turenne and he wasn’t supposed to be near Murray. Charges were dropped after his death.
A police report from May 26, 2025, said an officer responded to a 911 hang-up call where Murray and Turenne lived. The officer noted she explained twice that she was investigating a domestic violence crime and needed to keep all involved parties separate to get statements from them. While the officer was putting Turenne in custody, she said Murray lunged at her to interfere with the arrest, which resulted in Murray also being arrested.
“It’s a misunderstanding and we were both just trying to move on from it, and try to learn from our mistakes, and also proceed together,” Murray told InDepthNH.org.
Turenne was born in Haiti, came to the U.S. in 2009, worked as a driver for Amazon and was also going to school to be a mechanic. Murray said she first met him one night at a bar called SoHo Bistro and Lounge. She described him as kind, always willing to help others, and “goofy in the best way possible.”
“Nickenley was one of the most caring people that I’ve ever met. People tell me that I care so much about others, but compared to me, Nickenley was a saint… We would do a lot of walking together, and it doesn’t matter if he met you in a grocery store or at a gas station, he would become your best friend within five minutes. He loved people, hearing their stories, and getting to know people… He would do everything he could to help people,” Murray said.
She recalled how last Thanksgiving, Turenne left dinner with his family to bring warm meals to people in need.
“He was just a big little kid,” she said. “We always talked about a future together, and talked about being together for a while… We definitely wanted a future (together), and had future prospects. He always wanted a daughter. One of the last things we talked about was how he wanted to raise a little girl.”
Murray explained that she was working on the evening of Dec. 5, 2025, and Turenne texted her, asking to pick her up from work. He picked her up from work around 7 p.m., dropped off his work van and picked up the car he was using at the time. After hanging out around Livingston Park in Manchester for a while, Turenne wanted to visit friends in Massachusetts.
Once they got back to Manchester later that evening, they were about 20 minutes away from home when it started getting unsafe for Turenne to drive “because he was so tired, and I wasn’t in a place to drive because I was drinking,” she said. The plan was to park near Green Acre School and sleep for a few hours.
“We woke up to cops banging on the window, and yelling at him. We were both wicked scared and didn’t know what was going on, so he panicked and drove away. It was probably a two-minute drive from when we left to when we crashed… There’s a house on Mammoth Road, and they have a driveway that wraps from the side of the house to the back. But he drove down the side, went toward the back, but it was snowing and icy, so he slipped off, started driving down the hill toward the woods, and crashed into the fence.
“Once we crashed into the fence,” he said, ‘They’re chasing us, they’re coming after us.’ So he hopped out of the car and ran. Maybe five seconds later I saw three officers chasing after him into the woods… I stayed in the car, and an officer ran up to the car, shut the door, and ran off into the woods. He didn’t even know I was there,” she said.
Murray then started walking up the hill toward the house where the car crashed. By then, she saw Turenne return back to the car and he asked, “What do I do?” She said he seemed “so scared,” and started walking toward the main road. She said the officers came out of the woods, and one had a gun on Murray as he ordered her to get on the ground.
Murray said she tried to ask questions of the officer who had a gun on her while the others searched for Turenne, adding that she stayed there in the snow for over an hour while the officer repeatedly told her to “Shut the f— up.”
“I know one hundred percent that he wasn’t armed. He does not own any firearms, he had a knife, but that was at my house, and I know that for a fact also… While I was on the ground, the police were saying to him, ‘Stop moving,’ ‘get on the ground,’ and then I heard at least six gunshots. I saw him collapse to the ground. They shot him in the back first, then there was a shot to his neck. Wherever the other shots hit, I don’t know… They shot to kill,” Murray said.
Murray said after the shooting, life-saving measures were performed on Turenne, though he was ultimately pronounced dead after being taken to a nearby hospital. She noted that the impact Turenne’s killing had on her was different than she thought it would be.
“I understand there’s good and bad police, and I don’t want to seem like somebody that says, ‘The police are corrupt,’” she said. “I’ve never been someone that’s anti-police… But ever since then, I see a cop car and I get angry. I don’t have faith in the police or in the justice system anymore.”
Due to her job as a certified technician at Valvoline in Hooksett she hasn’t been able to attend some previous rallies and vigils, though she intends to attend them in the future. She’s also considering getting an attorney to sue Manchester Police.
“They (his family) were all just wicked sweet and very warm and comforting. They just wanted to be there for me and make sure I knew that. They’re very supportive… I haven’t really felt any sort of divide, I know Nickenley (Turenne) is their family, so I’ve been letting them take the reins on things and go about things how they think is best,” Murray said.
Marsha V. Kazarosian, the family’s attorney, said the last time she had any conversation with investigators was about a month ago, and they indicated more details about the case would be available by June. She said they don’t expect to release anything before then.
“That’s not unusual. It’s a little bit of a long time, but this just happened in December, so they’re understandably stating that it’s still in the middle of investigation. They’re not releasing any information right now to protect the integrity of the investigation,” Kazarosian said.
Kazarosian said she doesn’t believe that anybody is holding back information for any nefarious reason. She continued that for her purposes, she would like to see more transparency quickly, though she added that she understands the need to protect an investigation.
“We’re hoping that they are conducting a good, thorough, and fair investigation,” she said. “The family is considering every legal avenue that they can pursue, but right now, based on the information I have, it’s most likely that there may be a situation where the police officers in the department may have to answer questions regarding excessive force, and a civil rights action for wrongful death.”
Michael Garrity, director of communications for the New Hampshire DOJ said, “The New Hampshire Department of Justice conducts thorough and objective investigations into all New Hampshire officer-involved uses of deadly force. This matter remains active, and the timeline is consistent with similar investigations. With our investigation active and ongoing we would not comment further at this time. Findings will be released upon completion.”
Healing Justice Program Associate Ophelia Burnett, who has been advocating for justice for the Turenne family, explained that once she heard what happened, she quickly felt compelled to help them. After speaking with the family, she’s been helping connect them with resources to fight for answers.
She continued that the family had been seeking answers from the police, but ultimately were told that because the case is an open investigation, no more details could be released. In a meeting with the Assistant Attorney General, the mayor, and chief of police, she was informed that the case was being handled by the State Police Major Crime Unit, which she said is why the police department is not allowed to release the body camera footage.
Burnett said she couldn’t just sit by and watch the family not receive any answers. She and the family plan to continue holding rallies every month to spread awareness, and she intends to try and work on policies like police foot pursuits. She said nine out of 10 times, a foot pursuit ends up being fatal.
During a press conference to spread awareness about Turenne’s death on April 14 at Memorial High School, his family and advocates spoke about the shooting and their search for answers.
Wilda Turenne, Nickenley’s stepmother, said that while growing up, he loved making people laugh. She continued that while his family and friends are still struggling with his death, they continue their search for answers.
“For us to hear that on Dec. 6, 2025, that the Manchester Police took his life for nothing, because they haven’t given us a reason… We haven’t gotten any response at all,” she said.
The Manchester Police Department did not return requests to comment.