A man wanted by police has died after he was shot by an officer during a standoff in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday, officials said.
The man, identified as 35-year-old Jake Chiaradonna, had been sought by police in connection with a robbery on Jan. 11. They located him about 9:30 a.m. in a parked car near the intersection of Pine and Plummer streets, Manchester police said. He didn't get out of the car when officers ordered him to and started acting erratically.
A SWAT team was called in and a nearby building evacuated. As the situation unfolded, Manchester police said a person was barricaded and urged the public to avoid the area — tactical police vehicles were spotted at the scene in front of and behind a car.
The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office said officers tried to use non-lethal force, including dispatching a K9, but Chiaradonna stabbed the dog with a screwdriver and continued to refuse officers' commands. One officer fired on Chiaradonna and struck him. He was taken to a local hospital where he died.
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Olga Hannon witnessed the response and said it was shocking.
“I did hear a gunshot," she said. "It was one from what I heard - it was a really loud one.”
Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said officers contained the area around the vehicle, but the situation escalated.
“The history that we knew about this individual that’s why we took the steps that we did in regards to the SWAT team and many other measures that we put in place," Aldenberg said.
Chiaradonna has served prison time for robbing banks in 2016 and 2017, the AG's office confirmed.
No officers were hurt and the police dog is expected to recover from its injuries.
There was no threat to the public after the shooting, the AG's Office said. They had taken over the investigation into what happened.
The AG's office said Monday that Chiaradonna's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was a homicide.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. The attorney general's office identified the three Manchester police officers involved in the shooting in a press release issued on Feb. 5. They said Sgt. Eric Joyal discharged his firearm during the incident, Officer Adam Beland discharged "less-than-lethal" 40mm direct impact rounds and Officer Patrick Colburn deployed a trained police dog.
