Highlights
- Police go to a Greenland, New Hampshire, home as part of a drug probe
- An “armed subject” at the home opens fire, the attorney general says
- Greenland is a town 3,500 people located just south of Portsmouth
- “This is a tragedy for our community,” official says
By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) — Just days before he was to retire, a police chief from a southeastern New Hampshire town was shot and killed Thursday night while trying to execute a search warrant in a drug investigation, authorities said.
Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was shot and killed and four other officers were wounded at a home in the community, said Attorney General Michael Delaney.
“This is a tragedy for our community,” said Delaney. “Our law enforcement community is in mourning.”
The two suspects, a man and a woman, were found dead in the home after a long stand off, Delaney said Friday.
Delaney said authorities believe the suspects deaths came from either a “murder-suicide” or were a “double suicide.”
Greenland is a southeastern New Hampshire town of about 3,500 people just south of Portsmouth. According to its website, the town’s police department has 10 members.
During a news conference Friday, Delaney was asked why a police chief would be part of a dangerous mission so close to his retirement.
Delaney did not answer the question directly but said all the officers involved were part of a drug investigation.
The shootings come after a year in which U.S. cities saw an increase in officers killed.
The number of officers who died in the line of duty in 2011 increased 16% nationwide from last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Last year, 177 officers were killed, compared with 153 in 2010, the organization said.
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