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Attorney General Releases Results of Investigation into Deadly Manchester Standoff

Courtesy of N.H. Attorney General's office

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has concluded that officers were justified in their use of force during a high-profile standoff last March that resulted in the death of three civilians.

The incident took place at the Manchester Quality Inn on South Willow Street on March 27-28, 2019.

The Attorney General's report, issued Wednesday, says a group of Drug Enforcement Agency officers and police went there to arrest two men wanted on outstanding warrants. Police said they had stolen a car and were under investigation for trafficking drugs from Massachusetts to New Hampshire.

The reports says Stephen Marshall, 51, tried to escape through a smashed hotel window, and appeared to take aim at officers with a semi-automatic handgun. Officers shot him; he was struck seven times and died as a result.

The other two deaths - Christian St. Cyr, 26, and Brandie St. Cyr, 21 - barricaded themselves in the hotel room for 13 hours, while shooting at police.

Officers found the couple dead in their hotel room the next morning.

A medical examiner concluded the cause of death was likely a combination of fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine found in their bloodstream, and hypothermia from exposure to cold air through the smashed window and water from a burst pipe in their hotel room.

Officers recovered bags of fentanyl in the room, which they say the deceased had intended to distribute.

Sarah Gibson joined NHPR's newsroom in 2018. She reports on education and demographics.
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