⇒ UPDATE May 14: Woman on the run: Police issue warrant in stabbing death at Carpenter Center
MANCHESTER, NH – Police are investigating a suspicious death Friday at the Carpenter Center, a downtown apartment building for low-income and disabled residents.
“We’re shocked just like anybody else,” said Jacqueline Flanders who has lived in the building since 1994. “We don’t know what happened. We don’t know anything.”
She said there have been many deaths in the building over the years since many of the residents are elderly. However, this is the first time since she’s lived there that a death resulted in detectives being on the scene.
She and a few other residents were sitting outside the building early Friday evening.
One woman said the man who died was quiet, but both she and Flanders said they knew him only to say hello.
Attorney General John M. Formella and Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg announced investigators were on the scene of a “suspicious death” in a news release issued about 12:30 p.m. Friday.
Detectives were still on the scene Friday night with the police department’s Critical Incident Response Unit truck still parked out front of the center at 323 Franklin St.
According to the Manchester Fire Department’s dispatch log, 911 was called to the Carpenter Center at 8:29 a.m. Friday. The reason listed is “ineffective breathing” of an individual.
Three minutes later, the Manchester Police Department recorded a call for a “death” at the 323 Franklin St. building.
According to the city’s online property assessment database, the Carpenter Center has is owned by Carpenter Affordable Housing which purchased the building in 2016 for $2,168,800 from the Diocesan Bureau of Housing.
The brick building, a former hotel, was built in 1924.
Stewart Property Management, which manages low income housing in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont, manages the building. It says on its website that the once “grand hotel” was converted to 96 apartments.
Rent is based on 30 percent of monthly income. To qualify, residents must be at least 62 years of age or physically disabled, regardless of age. Income limits apply. Currently there is an estimated 3-year wait for a one-bedroom unit and 18-24 months for a studio apartment.
Late Friday Michael Garrity, spokesman for the Attorney General’s office, said the investigation scene remained “very active” and that no updates were expected until sometime Saturday.
