Anthony Previte was an active and inquisitive person.
His mother, Kim, remembers how her eldest son would lose himself in museums for hours, often asking for behind-the-scenes tours.
He enjoyed skateboarding and listened to a wide range of music, from Beethoven to Bruno Mars. He cared for a golden retriever he adored, and he danced and sang any chance he got.
“He loved every aspect of life,” Kim said.
Anthony’s life was cut short on July 22, 2024, after he experienced a mental health crisis that resulted in a stand-off with seven police departments outside of his family’s Kensington home. Over a year later, his family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the departments and individual officers.
The complaint, filed Dec. 9, claims that officers were aware of Anthony’s mental health history yet they “quickly engaged in a series of escalatory actions, using military-style tactics and equipment” that eventually led to the 29-year-old’s death.
“The Previte family has been through the unimaginable,” the family’s lawyer, Aaron D. Rosenberg, said in a statement. “The fact that Anthony’s death came at the hands of those meant to help him makes it even harder to bear. The Prevites intend to hold accountable those responsible.”
On that day in July, 2024, Kensington police visited the Previte family’s house on 6 Olivia Lane for a wellness check. Authorities had received a call from Anthony the night before, who claimed that his grandmother’s cookbook was tied to missing persons and cannibalism, according to the complaint.
When police arrived, Anthony barricaded himself in the house. Kensington police made several unsuccessful attempts to communicate with him from outside, and additional police departments surrounded the home with rifles and deployed drones and heavily-armored vehicles.
Several hours later, Anthony ran out the front door. Police shot him 15 to 20 times, immediately killing him.
This July, nearly a year after Anthony’s death, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office concluded that the seven officers involved in the incident were justified in using deadly force and announced that no criminal action would be brought against them by the state.
Kim said the time after her son’s death had already been “very difficult” but the Attorney General’s finding was “gut wrenching.” She said her family had always appreciated the police because of tough situations they previoulsy went through, but she found it difficult to understand how the events escalated the way they did.
Their lawsuit states that Anthony started to develop mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the days leading up to their son’s death, Kim and her husband, Andy, discussed how best to address Anthony’s mental health challenges, which included paranoia and hallucinations.
Kim said she remembers Anthony as a giving and charitable person. For Christmas, he would always ask to have a gift donated to Toys for Tots. She remembered one day when Anthony was at a skate park and found a homeless encampment in the woods nearby. He gathered all the canned goods in the family’s home and brought them to the encampment.
“He was always willing to help,” she said.
When Anthony worked as a flagger, he would dance as he switched between a “stop” and “slow” sign to manage traffic between Durham and Newmarket.
Some passersby would honk or wave at him. Kim said a lot of people stopped on the side of the road to give her son a coffee or small appreciation cards.
“The littlest things were special to him,” she said.
She hopes the lawsuit will hold the officers and police departments involved in the shooting to account. Kim believes her son’s story could have ended differently if police had considered his mental health history in the moment.
“It’s imperative for the police to consider the mental health factor,” she said.