The New Hampshire Attorney General has appointed a team to review the actions surrounding the shooting last month that left Greenland’s police chief dead and wounded four other officers.
The AG also gave a detailed account of how the officers were shot.Dan Gorenstein (DG): By all appearances, Attorney General Michael Delaney has a firm grasp on the sequence of events on April 12th.
Delaney: “We have learned that the approach to the house at Post Road began with two uniformed Greenland police officers.”
DG: Delaney says when no one responded to the officers, the Attorney General Drug Task Force members took over.
At the same time, he says Greenland Chief Michael Maloney pulled up in his police cruiser, positioning himself in front of the home.
The Task Force investigators burst into the home of Cullen Mutrie.
Delaney: “After gaining entry through the front door, that team of 6 was immediately met with gunfire discharged by Mr. Mutrie.”
DG: Maloney and other uninjured officers brought the wounded men to safety.
At that point, Delaney says Maloney took cover behind his car.
Delaney: “And after a period of inactivity, additional gunshots were fired from inside the home. And one of those gunshots struck Chief Maloney in the head, resulting in his death.”
DG: Delaney says state police are wrapping up their investigation of the incident.
Once that’s complete, the AG says a 5-person review committee – to be headed by former Nashua Chief Don Conley - will begin its investigation into just what happened that night.
The Attorney General says he doesn’t want Maloney to have died needlessly.
Delaney: “We must examine the incident that led to his death. Both to reaffirm what law enforcement did well under the circumstances and to take away whatever lessons can be learned from it.”
DG: Later that night, police found Mutrie and Brittany Tibbetts dead inside the home.
Most of the officers involved in the incident are members of the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force.
Given that, Delaney says he appointed people to the review committee who are not beholden to his office in any direct way.
Committee members were not made available for comment...there is no timetable for the report.
Delaney says it’s too soon to know if there is any reason to be concerned about the events on April 12th.
But he stressed this review is not an effort to place blame.