Hampton Felon Arrested On Gun, Reckless Conduct Charges After Shooting

HAMPTON, NH — Police in Hampton have arrested a felon they believed fired a gun several times outside an apartment building on Monday.

Police were sent to the area of Lafayette Road and Stickney Terrace around 8:15 p.m. for a report of a shooting with multiple shots fired. Officers, according to Capt. Anthony Azarian of the Hampton Police Department, searched the area and located “multiple spent ammunition shell casings” outside a building on Stickney Terrace.

“Officers spoke with several witnesses who described hearing bursts of gunfire,” he said. “While investigating the scene, officers spoke with a male resident of the apartment building who was identified as Richard Butler.”

Officers interviewed Butler and later accused him of being the shooter. Detectives applied for and were granted a search warrant for his apartment.

“After reviewing the evidence obtained through the investigation, officers developed probable cause to support several charges,” Azarian said.

A warrant was issued against Butler, 54, for felon in possession of a dangerous weapon and reckless conduct with a deadly weapon charges, both felonies, and unauthorized use of a firearm charge. He was arrested Tuesday. Butler was held without bail, taken to the Rockingham County Department of Corrections, and was expected to be arraigned in Rockingham County Superior Court on Wednesday.

Azarian said the New Hampshire State Police and the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department assisted the Hampton police with the case.

Butler, according to superior court records, is a felon due to a habitual offender conviction in September 1995 after an incident in Hampton in December 1989.

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