3 Injured During Henniker Village Shooting Sunday

HENNIKER, NH — A shooting Sunday led to a lockdown of New England College and a report of an active shooter incident after three people were shot in Henniker. Around 2:45 a.m., police were sent to the area of Bridge Street and Western Avenue after a person reported a gunshot injury to the leg. When officers arrived, they called for a Henniker ambulance to tend to one victim located behind Henniker Pharmacy.

While investigating the shooting, police learned a suspect might be in Colby Hall on the New England College campus, less than a mile away from where the first victim was found. About 15 minutes later, more ambulances were requested to Bridge Street to tend to the victim and also for "crowd control," according to Concord Fire Dispatch, which handles calls for the town of Henniker.

"PD's trying to work on the suspect's location up at NEC," dispatch said. "Very active scene at the crime scene as well … they are looking for backup with the medical as well … to get some hands in there."

At 3:15 a.m., EMTs from Henniker asked dispatch to call Concord Hospital and prepare for a "status one" trauma call with an injury to the left femur, according to scanner chatter. The college also began sending alerts to students telling them to stay in their dorms.

Henniker firefighters requested NEC open the Simons Center, to set up a "warm zone," due to "many people" being outside, in the cold, without jackets or coats. Dispatch replied police were still looking for a suspect but would try to get in touch with the school. Not long after that, police and firefighters learned there was a second shooting victim at West Hall, the building next door to Colby Hall, and Henniker's fire chief requested backup mutual aid ambulances for a possible active shooter scenario.

At just before 3:30 a.m. EMTs from Bow, Concord, Hillsboro, Hopkinton, and Weare were all sent to Henniker. EMTs were requested to bring their "rescue task force gear," if they had it, and to take back roads to get to the Henniker fire headquarters, due to the main drags being closed.

At 3:45 a.m., Bow EMTs, who had rescue task force gear in their ambulance, as well as Henniker police, entered West Hall in an effort to get to the second shooting victim, according to fire dispatch. Bradford firefighters were also requested to Henniker with their gear, too, in case there were more shooting victims.

A few minutes later, Bow EMTs reported to dispatch that the second victim was being taken to the fire station for "packaging," but later, redirected their transport straight to Concord Hospital.

Firefighters at West Hall stated Henniker police called of the active shooter alert after they learned that the second victim was from the initial incident in the area of Bridge Street. The suspect, according to dispatch, was still at-large but police believed they may have left the area.

Students at NEC continued to received "shelter in place" alerts until around 6 a.m.

Initially, two people were reportedly shot. However, in a press release at 8:45 a.m., police in Henniker said there were three victims involved in the incident.

"Police are currently searching for the suspect and anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Stephen Sloper at the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit at 603-271-3636," police said.

Tips can also be submitted to Henniker police at 603-428-3212.

The InfoNH Facebook site has pictures from the scene and other updates including that a suspect or person of interest may be in custody.

Concord NH Patch will update this post when more information becomes available.

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