A gunfight during a home invasion in Berlin left one person dead and at least three others injured late Wednesday night. The police said three men, at least two armed with handguns, forced their way into a basement apartment at 616 Third Ave. about 8 p.m. Once inside, they beat a male resident and pistol-whipped his girlfriend, the police said.

After a struggle, the man who lived in the apartment was able to pick up his own handgun and fire a number of shots at his assailants, according to Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin.

When the police arrived, they found one of the thwarted robbers, Nathaniel Stringfield, 23, of Berlin, dead in the apartment. He was shot through the stomach, the police said.

A second person, who the police have not named, fled through an alley at the rear of the building, leaving a trail of splattered blood on the street.

The police found the injured man in a boarding house at 827 Western Ave., just under a quarter mile from the shooting scene. Neighbors said they watched as at least six Berlin and state police cruisers surrounded the Western Avenue house Wednesday night, eventually loading one person into an ambulance.

Jason Rush, who was on his balcony overlooking the boarding house, said it appeared the man was shot in the face or head.

Strelzin said the person suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He was flown by helicopter to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center with potentially fatal injuries.

A third person believed to be a part of the armed robbery attempt is still at large but is not armed or dangerous, Strelzin said. The police do not know if he was injured.

Both people who were inside the apartment before the attempted robbery suffered "assault-like" injuries but are expected to survive, Strelzin said. He said the male resident was treated at the scene and his girlfriend was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and later released.

Neither suffered gunshot wounds.

No one has been charged in the incident.

Strelzin said the police are looking into whether this was a case of self-defense.

"There is no definitive answer as to what brought these two groups of people together," he said.

He said it appears one bullet from the shootout landed outside the building.

Yesterday, yellow police tape surrounded both crime scenes and an alleyway between them. Evidence markers littered the ground near blood stains on the pavement, and state police officers worked to measure the distance between each one. An officer with plastic booties went inside the Third Avenue building to take photographs.

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