Patrons at New Hampshire shooting prevented worse tragedy, AG says : NPR

An American van in the event of a Red Cross disaster is parked outside a hotel which acts as a reunification center after a shooting in a country club in Nashua, New Hampshire, on September 20, 2025.

Michael Casey / AP

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Michael Casey / AP

Nashua, NH – The customers of a restaurant acted quickly and altruistic to stop a shooter who opened fire while a wedding was taking place in a country club in the New Hampshire, avoiding a worst tragedy, the authorities announced on Sunday.

One person was killed and two others were injured by gunshots on Saturday evening before a suspect was arrested in a neighboring neighborhood shortly after the shooting, the authorities announced.

The shots killed Robert Decesare Jr., 59, at the Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua, said the prosecutor general of the New Hampshire, John Formella and the police chief of Nashua, Kevin Rourke. They said that the suspect was Hunter Nadeau, 23, of Nashua, and that he had been arrested and accused of a second degree murder leader for knowingly fired Decesare.

Nadeau was a former club employee, said Formella, adding that Nadeau had made a number of statements during the shooting and seemed to try to cause chaos at the moment rather than showing a motivation based on hatred. Witnesses said Nadeau said “free of Palestine” during confusion.

Some witnesses said that someone had struck Nadeau with a chair to try to master it. Formla has cited “acts of courage disinterested by the customers of the restaurant who put aside the care of their own security and worked to intervene and stop the shooter”.

The shooting occurred next to a wedding that took place at the club. The wedding DJ Michael Homewood attributed to the chair strike for preventing an even worse shooting.

“He hit him over his head with a chair, and he probably saved a lot of lives,” Homewood on WCVB-TV told.

Entertainment reasons still indeterminate in vestigators worked to determine a reason, Formla said. Police did not immediately answer the question of whether Nadeau is represented by a lawyer, and attempts to reach the members of the Nadeau family did not succeed. The authorities said that there was no known link between Nadeau and Decesare.

The authorities initially thought that there could be two shooters, but said later that there was only one.

“Additional accusations will probably be brought, especially for additional shooting victims,” ​​Formla and Rourke said in a statement. They said they expect Nadeau to be brought to justice in the ninth Nashua circuit courtyard on Monday.

One of the victims of surviving gunshots was an employee and the other was a patron, said Formella. The employee is hospitalized in critical but stable state while the status of the other victim is unknown, said Formla. He said that at least four other people on the scene had suffered injuries without punshot that should not lead life.

In addition to the three victims of gunshots, others have suffered injuries, including lacerations, hand -broken trauma and blunt force, Nashua Fire Rescue said on Sunday. The agency said it had helped around 100 people from the scene to a nearby fire station, mainly on foot.

Governor Kelly Ayotte said in a statement on Sunday that the prosecutor’s office would help Nashua police in investigation and that she and her husband “prayed for the victims and their families”.

Nashua is around 45 miles (70 kilometers) northwest of Boston, just opposite the Massachusetts border.

The widow of the victim talks about Decesare Outcharlene, the widow of Robert Decesare, said in an email that she was “incredibly traumatized” and focused on taking care of the couple’s children in the aftermath of the fire.

“Our lives are changed forever in an instant that would be foolish, except for the belief that Rob was trying to protect me, me and my daughter, and perhaps others there too. In our hearts, he is a hero,” she said.

Charlene Decesare said in a subsequent email that she and her daughter were closest to the shooter when he entered the room and that he seemed to target a restaurant employee. “My husband was caught in fire trying to protect us,” she said.

She said that her husband loved golf, poker and pickleball and that he was loved by her family and community. She also asked that the public “beware of speculation and total nonsense that displayed themselves on what had happened and why” and said that it was only making things more difficult for all the people involved, including the police who were trying to do their job “.

Witnesses describe the chaotic scenarios of Decesare’s mother, the man who was killed, had previously described that he could not find his son after being shot.

“He went down. My daughter-in-law and my granddaughter escaped. … They saw my son get off and saw blood,” said Evie O’Rourke de Salem, New Hampshire.

Sophie Flabouris told WCVB-TV that someone had hit the suspect over her head with a chair to master him. Flabouris said the suspect had then fled the scene.

“We had just gathered around the dance floor. We were about to make a Greek break from the plates and launch the tickets of a dollar. The bride had just approached me and gave me the plates to say:” Okay, you give this to my husband. “And all of a sudden, we heard” Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop. Heard five shots, “said Flabouris. “Suddenly heard” Gun! “Chaos, screaming, then current.”

Emily Ernst said she saw a shooter in all black.

“He had a mask. We have just seen him raise the pistol, then we ran,” said Ernst. “I ran into the kitchen for my life.”

Tom Bartelson de Pepperell, Massachusetts, described a chaotic scene which took place near the marriage of his nephew.

“Getting together for a dance for the bride and the groom, then all the chaos has died,” he said. “We have heard of six shots and everyone dodged a blanket and the next thing you know, we are rushed into safe places and things like that.”