8-year-old found dead in father's vehicle on bridge after woman killed in New Hampshire
Police shot and killed a man early Thursday morning on the Interstate 95 bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine, then found the body of an 8-year-old child inside his car.
Colonel Bill Ross with the Maine State Police confirmed the grim discovery at a press conference Thursday afternoon in Kittery, Maine.
The 8-year-old child was found dead in a vehicle on the Piscataqua River Bridge on Interstate 95 after a man accused in the death of a woman in Troy, New Hampshire, died in a shooting on the bridge with police, officials said.
Ross said just after 2 a.m. Thursday, York police received 911 call from a man saying he had been involved in a fight with his wife in the town of Troy.
"During that call, he told authorities that his wife was dead," Ross said. "The New Hampshire State Police responded to the residence in Troy, New Hampshire, and located a deceased female."
Ross said at approximately 2:30 a.m., Kittery police located the man's vehicle on the Piscataquis River Bridge, parked on the southbound side of traffic in the state of Maine, right in the middle of the bridge.
The bridge was shut down for several hours while police from Maine and New Hampshire spent several hours trying to negotiate with the man.
According to Ross, after unsuccessful negotiations, the man got out of his vehicle and raised a firearm. Ross said a Maine state trooper and two New Hampshire state troopers responded with deadly force.
Police said the man then fell from the bridge and was later found dead in the Piscataqua River below the bridge. His body was later recovered by the U.S. Coast Guard, police said.
Moments after the shooting, Ross said police discovered the 8-year-old child dead, fatally shot in the back seat of the vehicle.
"This death is not associated with the officer's use of deadly force," Ross said. "We have information that that is not the case."
Police said they were not aware there was a child inside of the vehicle at the time of the standoff with the suspect.
The troopers involved in this incident were placed on administrative leave pending the Maine attorney general's investigation into the use of deadly force, which Ross said was standard procedure.
At the family's home on Monadnock Street in Troy, neighbors said the family had recently moved there.
"They just barely moved in a month or month and a half ago," neighbor Kay Davidson said. "We kept saying we’ve got to go meet them, got to go meet them. Never got there."
The I-95 Piscataqua River Bridge was closed in both directions for several hours due to the investigation.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office is investigating the police shooting incident.
The victims' names have not been released.
The distance between Troy, New Hampshire, and the Piscataqua River Bridge is about 95 miles.