There’s a lot to love about New Hampshire. But, it’s not all beautiful mountain summits and rugged trails. Every so often we tell you about some history that’s not our favorite to recall. This story, in particular, is one that’s especially hard to recall. Back in 1997, one man left a trail of terror throughout the small town of Colebrook.
You’ll find Colebook a bit off-the-beaten path.
auvet / Flickr
In fact, by all accounts the town is idyllic. It’s quiet, peaceful and its out of the way location means they stay out of the limelight.
News & Sentinel / Google
But that wasn’t the case on August 20th, 1997.
dougtone / Flickr A man with a long-held grudge towards the town took out his aggression on folks who lived and worked here and things have never been the same. This is one of those stories that will never be forgotten,.
The town of about 2,000 people is located on the Vermont border, near Canada.
commons.wikimedia.org
The perpetrator started his rampage at the local grocery story, LePerle’s, where he shot and killed a state trooper.
Rejean Beauchamp / Google He went on to kill a highway inspector nearby, stealing a police cruise along the way. From here he went to the local newspaper’s office.
It seems he had a specific target at The News and Sentinel. Vickie Bunnel, a local lawyer, had made the perpetrator angry with a property tax ruling and he seemed set on revenge.
Google Maps When he arrived at the newspaper’s office, Ms. Bunnel saw her assailant approach and warned everyone to run. When they attempted to escape, she was shot from behind and killed.
Dennis Joos, a senior editor at the paper, tried to help but was shot and killed in the process. At this point, the death toll had risen to four and noone knew just when it would end.
The day continued with a chase between the perpetrator and police. They zipped over the border to Vermont and the perpetrator fled into the woods. He was eventually killed in a shoot out with police around 7 p.m.
In a strange twist, the killer’s own house burned to the ground the very same day. Many say it was an act of distraction, but it’s hard to say definitively. What we can say is that this day will live on in the minds of those who call this town home.
And it will never be forgotten.
Today, the events of the day have been written about in a few different books. You can find one, In the Evil Day: Violence Comes to One Small Town by Richard Adams Carey here.
auvet / Flickr
News & Sentinel / Google
dougtone / Flickr
A man with a long-held grudge towards the town took out his aggression on folks who lived and worked here and things have never been the same. This is one of those stories that will never be forgotten,.
commons.wikimedia.org
Rejean Beauchamp / Google
He went on to kill a highway inspector nearby, stealing a police cruise along the way. From here he went to the local newspaper’s office.
Google Maps
When he arrived at the newspaper’s office, Ms. Bunnel saw her assailant approach and warned everyone to run. When they attempted to escape, she was shot from behind and killed.
Dennis Joos, a senior editor at the paper, tried to help but was shot and killed in the process. At this point, the death toll had risen to four and noone knew just when it would end.
The day continued with a chase between the perpetrator and police. They zipped over the border to Vermont and the perpetrator fled into the woods. He was eventually killed in a shoot out with police around 7 p.m.
In a strange twist, the killer’s own house burned to the ground the very same day. Many say it was an act of distraction, but it’s hard to say definitively. What we can say is that this day will live on in the minds of those who call this town home.
And it will never be forgotten.
Another piece of New Hampshire history that chills us is the stories coming out of this former psychiatric hospital.
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