8-year-old found dead in car after police fatally shoot N.H. man suspected of killing wife

An 8-year-old was found dead in a car after police shot and killed a man suspected of killing his wife on a bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine, officials said Thursday.

Authorities have not identified the man. Maine State Police said in a news release that he called 911 at 2:07 a.m. to say that he had had a fight with his wife and that she was dead.

Law enforcement was dispatched to their home in Troy, New Hampshire, where they found a deceased woman.

Police found the man's car parked on the Piscataqua River Bridge on Interstate 95, on the Maine side of the state line, Maine State Police said. Troopers from Maine and New Hampshire tried to talk the man into surrendering.

"The bridge was shut down for several hours to protect the public, while negotiations were attempted, and the scene was secured," Maine State Police. "Negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful, and the male exited the vehicle and raised a firearm."

Troopers shot at the man, who apparently fell into the Piscataqua River. His body was recovered from the water, and he was declared dead.

Authorities found the body of an 8-year-old in the backseat of the man's vehicle. Maine State Police said the child had been shot, but not by law enforcement.

A Maine State Police spokesperson said the three deaths were of a "husband, wife and child" in a question-and-answer session at a news conference Thursday.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is investigating along with New Hampshire State Police.

"Additional information will be released as it becomes available while protecting the integrity of the investigation," the attorney general's office said.