Update: Officer-Involved Shooting Being Investigated In Rochester

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is investigating an officer-involved shooting on Friday night in Rochester.

Michael Garrity, the director of communications for the department, said Joseph Russell, 36, was “fatally wounded” in “a wooded area off Gooseberry Circle.” He was a suspect in multiple motor vehicle thefts in Rochester on Thursday, and police were actively searching for him. On Friday, he was spotted on Route 16 and intercepted around Gooseberry Circle. Police also learned at that time that he was armed with a gun, he said.

“Russell abandoned the vehicle he was driving and fled from police on foot into the Gooseberry Circle residential area,” Garrity said. “Rochester police and New Hampshire State Police entered the residential area and spotted Russell walking in between residences. When Russell spotted law enforcement, he fled again.”

Officers continued to chase Russell, telling him to stop and surrender, but he refused. A K-9 unit was then released to subdue Russell. When the K-9 brought Russell to the ground, “law enforcement reported seeing Russell draw a firearm, and two troopers fired bullets at Russell, who died at the scene,” Garrity said.

No officers or residents were injured during the incident. An autopsy will be held on Saturday. Garrity said the investigation was ongoing.

Russell, according to superior court records, was a felon due to a criminal threatening conviction in June 2011 after an incident in Rochester where he was also convicted of criminal mischief. He was sentenced to two years probation. Russell violated probation in July 2012 and was convicted in April 2013. He was then sentenced to a year in prison, a minimum sentence, that was suspended due to drug court enrollment.

In August 2011, Russell committed armed robbery in Rochester and burglary in New Durham. He pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2013 and received a one-year minimum sentence and a 2.5-to-five-year minimum sentence, both suspended. In April 2016, the sentence was amended with the drug court provision vacated. He was given a 3.5-to-seven-year sentence with 1,124 days served credit.

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