Maine officials released more information about a deadly incident early Thursday morning that began in New Hampshire, and ended on an Interstate 95 bridge linking the two states.
Officials have not yet released the names of the suspect or the victims but said the incident began just after 2 a.m. when a 911 call came in to the York, Maine, Police Department from a man who said he’d been in a fight with his wife in Troy, New Hampshire, and that she was dead, Maine State Police Commander Colonel Bill Ross said.
New Hampshire State Police quickly arrived at the home and found a woman dead. At about 2:30 a.m., police tracked the suspect’s phone to Kittery, Maine, nearly two hours away from Troy. Kittery Police found the suspect’s vehicle parked on the southbound side of the I-95 bridge, just across the state line in Maine, Ross said.
The bridge was shut down while police attempted to negotiate with the suspect, but the negotiations were unsuccessful.
“The male then exited his vehicle,” Ross said. “And at that time, he raised a firearm.”
A Maine State trooper and two New Hampshire troopers “responded with deadly force,” Ross said. The suspect fell 135 feet into the river below. His body was recovered by the US Coast Guard.
“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 officers’ use of deadly force.”
The three troopers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave while the Maine Attorney General’s Office investigates the shooting. State police in New Hampshire and Maine are investigating the deaths of the woman and the child.
Ross said the suspect and the female victim were the parents of the child and that their identities will be released once notifications have been completed.
The bridge reopened to traffic just after 9:30 a.m.
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[Featured image: The Piscataqua River Bridge. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)]