Concord Man Justified In 2021 Warren Street Shooting: NH AG

CONCORD, NH — After more than a year, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has determined a man shooting another man in Concord in 2021 was justified.

On Jan. 16, 2021, Concord police and fire and rescue teams were sent to the Firehouse Block Apartments for a report of a shooting just before noon. At the time, Terrence Wigglesworth, 28, a homeless man, was accused of busting down the door of an apartment when he was shot and killed by a tenant, Tyler Cochran, 33. Cochran, according to investigators, shot Wigglesworth in the chest.

After a 13-month investigation, investigators determined Cochran was justified in shooting Wigglesworth and no charges will be filed against him.

Investigators, in a 40-page report, said Cochran “was fully cooperative with the investigation” and claimed after Wigglesworth broke into his fourth-floor apartment, he began to assault him. The pair fought on a couch and Cochran reached for a gun and shot Wigglesworth.

A building manager heard the burglary incident and called police before the shooting. When officers arrived, Cochran was outside walking his dog and appeared distressed and upset, according to the report. An officer said Cochran waved them down and said, “You must be here for the incident” and “I had nothing else to do but to shoot Terrence.”

Cochran, police said, had blood on his neck and thigh, scratches on his body, scrapes on his elbow, hands, and ankles, as well as a bump on his head above his right eye.

Officers went to Cochran’s apartment, found Wigglesworth on the floor, and he did not have a pulse, the report said. At first, officers did not find a shooting wound but later, found a bullet hole in his chest. A bullet passed through a wall and into a second wall.

An officer, examining the apartment entrance, found scuff marks consistent with a boot kicking a door.

The officers spoke with witnesses including two men working on a nearby apartment. They said Wigglesworth was banging on the door of the apartment. One of the men warned him to leave or they would call police. Wigglesworth said he would “need them.” The man then called police and later, heard two gun shots inside the apartment.

One of the men knew Wigglesworth had a no trespass order issued against him and was not allowed in the building.

Cochran and Wigglesworth knew each, the report stated, and had mutual friends. Cochran said he had interacted with Wigglesworth earlier in the day. When Wigglesworth asked to come inside to rest, Cochran said he was not allowed in the building.

Eight witnesses were interviewed including the friends of both men who had interacted with them in the hours before the shooting. They also looked at the bullet trajectory which was consistent with Cochran’s statements about where he was in the apartment when he fired the two shots.

According to investigators, the state’s self-defense laws permit deadly force when another person is about to use unlawful and deadly force against them, during a burglary incident, and when the commission of a felony within a person’s dwelling could possibly occur.

“Based on all the facts and circumstances of this case, the attorney general has concluded that Tyler Cochran was justified in using deadly force against Terrence Wigglesworth in self- defense, pursuant to RSA 627:4, II(b) and (d),” the report stated. “Because Mr. Cochran was justified in using deadly force pursuant to those provisions, which require Mr. Cochran to have only reasonably believed that Mr. Wigglesworth was ‘likely to use any unlawful force,’ even non-deadly force, rather than deadly force, this review does not address whether Mr. Cochran reasonably believed that he faced deadly force under 627:4, II(a).”

Wigglesworth, who was originally from Pennsylvania, and previously lived in Concord and Pittsfield, had countless interactions with police in the city during the past nine years.

Some of those interactions included being trespassed from downtown businesses due to theft allegations and charges. According to court documents, Wigglesworth was found guilty of theft by unauthorized taking and criminal trespass charges in Cheshire County Superior Court in January 2021 and guilty to drug charges in Merrimack County Superior Court in February 2020 after two incidents in Concord. He was also facing a violation of probation or parole accusation in superior court after another incident in Concord in August 2020.

Wigglesworth was also previously charged with theft, resisting arrest or detention, criminal trespass, and unlawful possession, according to court records.

According to superior court records, Cochran has no recorded criminal history.

Read the full report linked here in PDF.

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