MANCHESTER, NH – As Scott M. Kimball and his son Mark hurled obscenities at Black Lives Matters protesters outside the Manchester Police Department Saturday afternoon two self-described “peacemakers” approached their truck to try to talk with the two men, according to court documents.
As the two men moved toward them, however, someone in the crowd of about 100 tossed a water bottle at the truck.
Immediately, Scott Kimball, 43, and Mark Kimball, 19, both of Jewett Street in Manchester, got out of the 2005 black Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, each holding a handgun, according to the sworn affidavit of Officer Matthew J. Messier on file in Hillsborough County Superior Court – Northern District.
“You want some of this,” Scott Kimball said as he allegedly drew a handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the crowd.
Mark Kimball faced the crowd with a gun in his right hand, which was pointed at the ground “but in the general direction of the crowd,” Matthew Lawrence, 36, one of the self-described “peacekeepers” told police. He and Forrest Rapier, 31, also served as medics that day should someone be injured.
Lawrence told police he and Rapier tried to talk to Scott Kimball but he instead pointed his gun directly at them.
Lawrence said he feared Scott Kimball was going to use his gun and said he believed Mark Kimball was following his father’s lead.
Rapier corroborated Lawrence’s story, police said.
Officer Messier and Officer Michael Roscoe also witnessed the incident. Messier, along with several other officers, was dispatched to the police station where about 100 protesters had gathered in front of the building. Messier said at 1:13 p.m. he saw Kimball’s truck slowly drive by the parking lot heading east on Valley Street.
The truck, which had a large Trump 2020 flag in its bed, then turned and parked in the entrance of the parking lot at 450 Valley St., across the street from the police station. Roscoe heard the Kimballs shouting obscenities at the protesters “with the intent to provoke a reaction,” Messier wrote.
The crowd of protesters shouted at the truck and then rushed toward it. As the crowd started across Valley Street, Roscoe saw a person throw a water bottle at the truck and then saw the Kimballs quickly get out of the truck and walk toward the crowd, both brandishing firearms.
Father and son were arraigned Monday morning in Superior Court. Each is charged with four counts of criminal threatening. Mark Kimball was released on personal recognizance bail and is to live with his mother on Auburn Street. Judge William N. Delker cited the lack of a criminal history for granting bail, according to Hillsborough County Attorney Michael Conlon.
Scott Kimball is being preventively detained in the Valley Street jail pending an evidentiary hearing set for June 8 at 1 p.m.
Saturday’s incident followed a peaceful march in downtown Manchester that drew a crowd of about 800 to 1,000 protesters.
