PLAISTOW, N.H. (WHDH) - What started with a bullet hitting a child’s tricycle has become a five-year mystery in one New Hampshire town. No known shooter, no confirmed source, and a neighborhood searching for answers.
A home surveillance camera captured the first incident in Plaistow, New Hampshire in Carole Melo’s driveway. Her daughter had just hopped of her pink tricycle. As she walked away from the bike, gunshots could be heard in the distance. Then, just a second later, a clank as the tricycle moves. Police say that sound is a bullet ricocheting off the tricyle.
“It was terrifying, That’s every parent’s nightmare.” said Melo.
Even more terrifying, the near miss on Carlis Way was only the beginning.
“We didn’t know what the sound was initially, but then we found the bullet,” said Melo.
That bullet sent police searching for its path and the shooter. According to police reports from the 2021 incident, officers searched the dense woods behind the neighborhood, taking a close look at two police firing ranges within a mile of the neighborhood. One of those ranges is in Kingston, New Hampshire, along with their own in Plaistow, but they couldn’t pinpoint where the bullet came from or who fired it.
“It’s too close to home, literally,” said Kayla Campagnone, who also lives on Carlis Way.
Two years later, another mysterious shooting. Talan Syr showed us the bullet hole on her home.
“We were shot right here,” Syr said, as she pointed to a hole in her siding around chest height.
In 2026, three more bullets struck this otherwise quiet neighborhood. One hit Melo’s home, and another hit her fence.
“It went through the side and out the other. That could hit a person that’s that the level of a child,” said Melo.
In all of the shootings, no one was hurt, but the families worry about what could happen next.
“You’re worried if you’re being negligent by letting your children play outside,” said Melo.
“That’s the most frustrating part. It kind of feels like we don’t have answers,” said Megan White, another resident on Carlis Way.
Each new bullet brought more fear, but also gave police more clues.
“The holes where a downward trajectory which, to me, tells us that it’s coming from a decent distance,” said Sgt. Kyle Coakley of the Plaistow Police Department.
Sgt. Coakley began looking into the incidents in the neighborhood. His investigation took him back into the woods. He says he found a clearing where someone may have been firing a gun about a half-mile away.
“What I could see in the back distance was the neighborhood with a clear line of sight,” said Sgt. Coakley.
Sgt. Coakley went straight to the landowners.
“They assured us that they’re not letting anybody shoot over there anymore,” said Coakley.
Piece by piece, investigators narrowed their search by ruling out parts of the woods and the Kingston Police range, but they couldn’t clear their own shooting range.
“Is it probable? No. Is it possible? Yes. Anything is possible,” said Plaistow Police Interim Chief Jason Mazza.
Plaistow’s police gun range is less than a half-mile from Carlis Way. The range is made up of two areas, a rifle range that faces to the north, and a pistol range that faces the west – in the direction of Carlis Way.
Investigators tell 7 Investigates that officers used the pistol range around the time of some of the incidents and were shooting towards the neighborhood.
Now 7 investigates has learned the department has permanently changed the set-up at the range, so officers will always shoot away from the homes.
“Moving forward, we’re just utilizing the rifle range which faces in the opposite direction of that neighborhood,” said Interim Chief Mazza.
Investigators recovered two bullets from Carlis Way and sent them to the New Hampshire Crime Lab for testing. The results did not reveal where the shots came from or who fired them. For Families on Carlis Way, the worry isn’t over.
“It’s really surreal to be quite honest. It’s kind of like every day, we are like is this really happening?” said Syr. “I want my kids to be able to play in the backyard and not have to worry about that.”
New Hampshire law allows shooting in many areas as long as people follow restrictions near homes and roads. Police say this will make it harder to find out who was shooting bullets into Carlis Way.
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