CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A state trooper’s shooting of a Walpole man in December was justified after the man pointed what appeared to be semi-automatic handgun at a police officer, the New Hampshire attorney general has announced.
Trooper Zachary Bernier and a Walpole police officer were responding to a Dec. 4, 2021 call from a woman who said her son was suicidal. They encountered the 25-year-old man in the driveway and during a conversation he pulled out the what appeared to be a gun and pointed it at the Walpole officer, the attorney general’s office said Thursday.
Bernier fired 10 shots, hitting the man twice. He was hospitalized for his wounds and survived.
Unknown to the officers, the firearm was a pellet gun but all the safety markings had been removed so it looked like a real handgun, the attorney general’s office said.
After a review the attorney general has determined that it was “objectively reasonable” for the trooper to conclude that the man had a real firearm pointed at the officer and therefore the shooting was “a legally justified use of deadly force,” the attorney general’s office said.
State police brought charges against the man, which are pending, the office said.
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