New Hampshire police recruit accused in plot to shoot fellow recruits at graduation
By Caitlin Andrews
Concord Monitor
December 13, 2018
LACONIA, New Hampshire -- A Laconia police recruit who told his colleagues they should create a “suicide pact” and shoot up their academy graduation was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation Thursday.
Noah Beaulieu, 24, of Concord was arrested Wednesday night and charged with two misdemeanor counts of criminal threatening after several recruits at the New Hampshire Police Standard and Training Facility in Concord reported his comments.
Parties came to an agreement that Beaulieu should undergo an evaluation at Concord Hospital before a more permanent bail agreement can be hashed out. After the evaluation, he will be released without bail into the custody of the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Department.
A more permanent bail agreement will be hashed out at 11 a.m. Friday in Merrimack County Superior Court.
Beaulieu made several comments to recruits in recent weeks that “put other recruits in fear for both their safety as police officers and those of their families,” State police Trooper Tamara Hester wrote in an affidavit.
Those comments allegedly included statements like “they were going to make a movie about him when he became a serial killer,” Hester wrote.
Hester wrote that multiple recruits were present in a room Tuesday when Beaulieu said he would bring machine guns to their upcoming graduation, which is Friday, to “see if that kills everyone.”
When recruits told him to stop because their families would be present, Beaulieu said they would be safe because his plan would only target law enforcement, Hester said.
Defense attorney Mark Sisti said his client never meant to terrorize anyone and denied the allegations.
“Mr. Beaulieu maintains that he did nothing criminal,” Sisti said.
“We can be very clear that, on the bottom line is that what he’s been charged with is way out of line,” Sisti later said. “He had no intention to harm anybody, terrorize anybody, shoot anybody up.”
Multiple recruits, including an Officer Kayla Denison from the Concord Police Department, told Hester that Beaulieu had brought up the idea of a suicide pact prior to Wednesday.
Beaulieu’s plan hinged on police officers reacting to a single shot fired at the graduation that would cause all other officers to pull their guns and that “all the crossfire from responding officers would be what killed everyone,” Hester wrote.
Denison said she told Beaulieu she would be reporting his comments.
Another recruit reported that Beaulieu said he had a list of graduates who could be potentially harmed during graduation. This recruit told Denison she was on the list, Hester wrote.
The next day, Beaulieu was arrested by state police troopers on Interstate 93.
According to Laconia Police Commission meeting minutes from May 16, Beaulieu is from Southington, Conn.
Sisti said Beaulieu served three years in the Army as an infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division.
Laconia police Chief Matthew Canfield said Beaulieu was driving up to Laconia to meet with him when he was arrested.
He was fired Wednesday after he was arrested.
Canfield said Beaulieu underwent a rigorous interview process that included a background check and a six-hour psychological written exam, as well as a two-hour interview with a psychologist. He was hired in May.
“It’s disheartening and disappointing,” Canfield said. “...Thank God he didn’t carry out his threats and no one got hurt.”
“I don’t know if we could have found any signs,” Canfield added, speaking about Beaulieu’s behavior. “I don’t know if that’s possible, unless we can predict future behavior.”
No comments:
Post a Comment