By Nathan Duke
Staff Writer

Police say they have a suspect for the air gun shooting of three teenage skateboarders at Saint Anselm College and hope to make an arrest soon, though specifics are still being investigated.

Three of five teenagers that were skateboarding at Bernard Court were shot with an air gun in the late afternoon on Wednesday, April 20. The skateboarders, three 15-yearolds and two 16-year-olds, reported the incident from the campus to Goffstown police at about 5 p.m., said Capt. Glenn Dubois.

Each of the three teenagers were shot once - one in the chest, one in the ankle. The third was grazed on the shoulder.

Three of the skateboarders are from Goffstown, one is from New Boston and one is from Dunbarton. Police identified the victims as juveniles and said there were no serious injuries stemming from the shooting.

Dubois said four or five shots were fired at the boys and that police are still investigating from where the shots were fired.

He said the shooting came as a surprise to residents, school officials and police.

"This is the first report I can recall of something like this at Saint Anselm," he said. "I don't remember anything of this nature ever happening at the school."

The captain said police are still unsure whether the air gun was a BB or pellet gun and if it was a rifle or hand gun.

Currently, the police have a suspect, but would not specify information. Dubois said the boys did not see the shooter and police are not sure whether more than one person is responsible for the shooting. If caught, the suspect could face a class B felony charge.

He said the incident did not appear to be premeditated.

"It was random in that, at this time, there seems to be no connection between the boys and who we think is the suspect," he said. "It seems (the shooter) thought, 'Look, there are a couple of kids there - let's take a couple of shots at them.'"

Dubois said police are still investigating the incident ,and he hopes to wrap up the case soon.

"(Goffstown police) are working very hard to try to get an arrest out of this and I hope we will soon be able to bring this to fruition," he said. "This is not the type of behavior that we are going to tolerate."