MANCHESTER, NH – The sound of gunshots around 3:30 a.m. Friday woke Noelle Inoa and her 18-year-old daughter who both ducked for cover in Inoa’s second-floor bedroom at Wellington Terrace Apartments.
“I heard six to eight shots, but I could be wrong,” she said. “It was so fast and I was sleeping so I might have missed a few. It felt like I was dreaming.”
Inoa, who has lived at the apartment complex for nine years, said nothing like that has ever happened there before.
“I was panicking and crying because I thought someone was shooting through my window,” Inoa said. She nervously waited a few minutes before looking out the window.
“I didn’t know what was going on outside and I looked out there and there was just a commotion. All the cops were there and there was screaming and yelling,” she said.
Inoa said she doesn’t know who was yelling; she was still a little sleepy, having been woken at that early hour. But officers were on her front lawn and then she watched as the body of a person who authorities said police shot was taken away on a stretcher.
Police said they received a 911 call at 3:25 a.m. about a person who was armed with a gun at 1143 Mammoth Road. The log indicated the caller reported a mental health issue.
Officers arriving to the scene encountered an armed person outside the home and “multiple Manchester police officers ultimately discharged their firearms,” according to a news release issued by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg.
Police said life-saving measures were attempted, but the person died. The identity of the victim is being withheld pending notification of family members.
An autopsy is scheduled for later today. Police said no law enforcement officer, or private citizen was injured, and there is no threat to the public.
The names of the officers involved in the incident are being withheld pending the conclusion of formal interviews. The initial responding officers had body-worn cameras.
The exact circumstances surrounding this incident remain actively under investigation, police said. No additional information will be released until after the autopsy is completed.
Inoa said she does not know who the person is who died.
She read a news report that said there was a mental health issue reported. “I wish people could get more help,” she said. “It’s sad it had to end that way but you can’t point a gun at an officer.”
This is the second time in about a year that Manchester police have been involved in a fatal shooting on Mammoth Road.
About 12:20 a.m. on June 19, 2022, police received a 911 call of a reported domestic violence-related incident in a parking lot near Rite Aid at 270 Mammoth Road.
When police arrived, an injured woman was walking away from a gray Toyota RAV4 parked in the lot. Police spoke with Adnan Husejnovic, 33, of Manchester, who was reportedly armed and inside the car.
He refused to come out of the car and a 90-minute standoff ensued. At 2:05 a.m. Husejnovic was shot and killed.
Police said six officers fired; four Manchester police officers and two New Hampshire state troopers.
The Attorney General’s Office investigated that incident but has yet to release the results.
