Concord Second Start School Student Fired Gun At Educator: Update

CONCORD, NH — A suicide incident at an alternative high school in February in Concord was actually a school shooting, the first one in New Hampshire in decades, after an investigation revealed the student attempted to shoot an educator before taking his own life.

Officers were sent to Second Start on North State Street around 10 a.m. Feb. 5 for a shooting inside of the school. Calls from inside of the school reported more than one gunshot and all on duty officers were sent to the school. Officers learned the perpetrator was a 17-year-old boy who normally arrived at the school later in the day and was not expected at that hour of the day.

School personnel told firefighters and police after the initial call was reported that the scene was secure. Students and personnel were evacuated from the North State Street location to the school's other facility on Knight Street.

ALSO READ:

• Second Start Shooting Still Under Investigation: Concord Police
• Shooting At Concord's Second Start School Was A Student Suicide

Video from a post-shooting press conference Feb. 5, 2020, with Deputy Chief John Thomas of the Concord Police Department where Patch raises the issue of more than one shot fired inside of the school.

Concord police called in the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit to assist in processing the scene.

Deputy Chief John Thomas said Thursday the joint investigation by state police and detectives led to interviews with students, staffers, and family members, and revealed and confirmed, that two shots were fired inside of the school.

"The first shot was fired in the direction of one of the staff members of Second Start," Thomas said. "The round struck a desk that the staff member was sitting behind, narrowly missing the staff member."

The staffer was an educator at the school. After shooting at the teacher, the student took his own life, Thomas said.

At the time of the incident, state officials quickly deemed the incident an apparent suicide despite witnesses both inside and outside of the school as well as the initial report to police dispatch stating two shots were heard inside the school. Patch was the only media outlet to raise the issue of more than one gunshot at a press conference and, for months, has been attempting to obtain information about the case from state police, state officials, and the Concord Police Department.

While officials from the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office were at the scene of the shooting, the department did not investigate the incident, according to an associate attorney general, who also said by email the incident was a suicide.

Initially, the New Hampshire Department of Safety did not know about the forensics investigation of the school shooting when it was requested last month. Later, however, the case information was found and the legal department coordinated with the city of Concord about the release of the report. Both departments agreed not to release the report despite the investigation being closed.

Thomas said the city solicitor's office was sealing the report "due to right to privacy issues."

Thomas said the handgun involved in the incident .380 Ruger pistol but investigators could not confirm how the student obtained it. He said, however, the firearm was legally purchased and owned by an acquaintance of the student.

"It was someone he was familiar with," Thomas said.

Thomas said the investigation revealed no previous warnings or signs the student wanted to shoot the educator, or anyone else, or take his own life.

"It was huge surprise," Thomas said.

The Second Start shooting is the first school shooting in New Hampshire in nearly 30 years and the first in Concord in nearly 35 years.

Back in October 1991, a 16-year-old dropout from the Monadnock Regional High School fired a single rifle shot that wounded two students, according to the Keene Sentinel. After a 15 minute standoff, the student was arrested.

In December 1985, Louis Cartier, also a 16-year-old dropout at Concord High School, showed up at school with a shotgun and held two students hostage. He was shot by police after a standoff and later, died at Concord Hospital. In 2018, Natalia Megas put together this lengthy report about the Cartier incident.

Video just after the school shooting at Second Start Feb. 5.

A free, 24/7 confidential service is available that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information, and local resources. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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