A 23-year-old man accused of opening fire at a Nashua country club that left one person dead made his first court appearance Monday to face charges that could send him to prison for decades if convicted.
Hunter Nadeau, of Nashua and a former employee of the Sky Meadow Country Club, is accused of entering the club Saturday evening and opening fire.
Robert Steven DeCesare, 59, who was with his family at the club, was shot dead. Two others were wounded by gunfire.
Nadeau “knowingly cause the death of Robert DeCesare by shooting him with a pistol,” according to the arrest affidavit filed by the state. He faces second-degree murder charges.
DeCesare’s wife and her daughter were next to him when he was shot, Charlene DeCesare said in an email to the Associated Press.
“My husband got caught in the fire trying to protect us,” she said.
Investigators said there is no known connection between Nadeau and DeCesare.
During a Monday afternoon court hearing at Nashua Circuit Court, Judge Tanya Spony set Nadeau’s probable cause hearing for Oct. 1 at 10:15 a.m. Nadeau appeared by video and waived his arraignment. He is currently being held at the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections in Manchester.
One of the gunshot victims, an employee of the country club, was airlifted to a Massachusetts hospital and is reported to be in critical but stable condition. The second victim was a patron of the club.
John Formella, New Hampshire Attorney General, said four others sustained non-gunshot injuries while either fleeing the area or intervening during the confrontation with the shooter.
The attorney general’s office said that “additional charges likely will be brought, including for the additional shooting victims.”
Witnesses say someone struck Nadeau with a chair after he shouted “free Palestine” and opened fire. Authorities have not confirmed those reports.
“I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the patrons in the restaurant who acted selflessly and quickly with more care for their fellow citizens than for themselves, to help keep this a contained event and minimize this tragedy as much as it could,” Formella said. “This is still a very tragic event, but it could have been much worse.”
Based on preliminary information, Nadeau’s actions do not appear to have been a hate-based crime, Formella said.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
