Portland, Maine (WGME) — A family tragedy unraveled Thursday morning with two innocent people found dead and a suspect shot and killed by police on the Piscataqua River Bridge linking Maine and New Hampshire.
The incident ended on the I-95 bridge with state police shooting the suspect.
It started with a 911 call from the suspect saying he had gotten in a fight with his wife in Troy, New Hampshire and that she was dead.
"The York Police Department received a 911 call from a male stating that he’d been involved in a fight with his wife in the town of Troy, New Hampshire,” Maine State Police Commander Colonel Bill Ross said. “During that call, he told authorities that his wife was dead.”
New Hampshire State Police then went to the home in Troy, New Hampshire, near Keene, and found the suspect’s wife deceased.
Then, at 2:30 a.m., police tracked his phone to Kittery and located the suspect in the southbound lane of I-95 in the middle of the bridge, just on the Maine side.
"Law enforcement agencies from New Hampshire and Maine responded and tried to negotiate with the male,” Ross said.Ross says they immediately shut down the bridge to protect the public.
Police continued to try to get him to surrender, but they were unsuccessful.
"The male then exited his vehicle,” Ross said. “And at that time, he raised a firearm.”Ross says a Maine state trooper and two New Hampshire state troopers responded with deadly force.
He says the suspect then fell 135 feet into the river below, his body recovered by the Coast Guard.
That’s when police found the second homicide victim, the man’s son.
"Law enforcement officers on scene located an 8-year-old child fatally shot in the back seat of the vehicle,” Ross said. "The child’s death is not associated with the police officer’s use of deadly force today.”Police are not releasing the names of the victims or suspect until next of kin have been notified.
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