Three police officers were found to be justified in shooting and killing a Black man who was holding a flashlight because he pointed it like a gun instead of showing his hands, according to an investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
Manchester police shot at 24-year-old Nickenley Turenne 18 times. He had run through snowy backyards, fleeing from police after they found him and Nicole Murray sleeping in his car near an elementary school in the early morning hours of Dec. 6.
Attorney General John Formella said officers Andre Chan, Brandon Baliko and Devin Lambert were legally justified to use deadly force against Turenne because they believed they were in imminent danger. State law doesn’t require danger to actually be present — just the “reasonable belief” that it’s there.
Police officers told investigators that they thought Turenne’s flashlight, which was a little longer than three inches and which he pointed at them like a gun, was a firearm with a mounted light. He held it with both hands and took a step back as if to assume a shooting stance.
“Mr. Turenne did the thing most likely to provoke the officers to fire at him: he reached into his pockets to retrieve an object, which he then turned on and pointed” at them, the report states.
Turenne’s death sparked several vigils in Manchester by his family, community and advocates, who’ve demanded to see the body camera footage for months. The family’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While it turned out he was unarmed, Turenne displayed “threatening movements” and “noncompliance with repeated verbal commands,” according to the report.
Nicole Murray, Turenne’s girlfriend, was also sleeping in the car when police arrived and was arrested by officers. She had a protection order against him after a previous domestic violence incident, but they had recently started “hanging out” again, she told investigators. Murray and Turenne had smoked and drank together at a park the evening of the shooting, when Turenne told her he was considering suicide because he would rather die than go back to jail.
Turenne was one of nine people to be shot by police in New Hampshire last year. Two others — David Ward in Keene and Calvin Ly-Bishop in Londonderry — also died.
The attorney general’s office investigates every use of deadly force by police officers and routinely rules that they are legally justified in their actions. State law allows police to use lethal force if they reasonably believe their lives or the lives of others are in danger.
‘You’re about to get shot’
Officer Joshua Chery, who had responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle, tapped his flashlight on the window to get Turenne’s attention, according to the investigation report released by the attorney general’s office. Turenne sped away, across South Mammoth Road, and crashed into the fence of a nearby home.
Turenne then fled on foot into a backyard. Chery ordered him to put his hands in the air, which Turenne did for about three seconds, according to the report. He then put his hands into his sweatshirt pocket and slowly walked away from Chery.
Chery ordered Turenne to show his hands more than 30 times over four minutes, according to the attorney general’s review of body camera footage. In those interactions, Turenne raised his right hand but kept his left concealed.
“Tell my family that I love them,” Turenne said.
As the interaction went on, Chery warned Turenne to “give me your f—in’ hands bro … You’re about to get shot.”
Turenne repeatedly told the officer “don’t shoot.”
Eventually, Turenne rounded the corner of a house, jumped the fence and ran back toward his car. He then walked down the driveway between 283 and 285 S. Mammoth St.
Officer Andre Chan, who’d just arrived on the scene, saw Turenne and ordered him to get on the ground. Turenne instead took two steps back, brought his hands out of his pocket and held a flashlight in front of him with both hands, pointing it at Chan.
The report describes it as an “object” that “emitted a white light.”
Officer Patrick Skerry, who stood far behind Chan facing Turenne, then yelled, “He’s got a gun!”
Chan cursed, checked himself for gunshot wounds, then drew his pistol and fired six times. He’d gotten out of his car just 18 seconds earlier.
Officer Brandon Baliko fired four times, and Officer Devin Lambert fired eight times. Both told investigators they’d thought the sound of gunshots was coming from Turenne shooting at Chan, not the other way around.
Turenne fell to the ground, and officers handcuffed him and gave him emergency medical treatment. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
