NASHUA — A man shot in front of a supermarket among panicked shoppers was specifically targeted, and authorities are searching for the suspect, enlisting the help of officers outside Nashua, including in Massachusetts, police said Friday.
The victim, a 26-year-old Nashua man, was shot once in the neck in front of a Shaw’s supermarket on Main Street about 6:30 p.m. Thursday before the shooter ran away. Shoppers saw the victim bleeding on the ground, and some caught a glimpse of the gunman. No one else was hurt.
The victim, who was not identified, was released from a Boston hospital Friday morning, said Lieutenant Michael Moushegian. “The victim is conscious and alert,” he said. “He’s been very cooperative. He’s provided us with information we’re able to follow up on.”
He said the investigation suggests that the victim “was a very specific target and there is not a greater generalized threat to the community.”
Moushegian declined to comment on the possible relationship between the victim and the shooter or on a possible motive.
After the shooting Thursday night, police said the suspect could have been in the immediate area and requested that residents stay inside because they considered him armed and dangerous. Moushegian said Friday that police no longer believe he was in the area.
He declined to comment on whether there is surveillance video from the supermarket that shows the shooting.
Shoppers and staff at the Shaw’s described a very chaotic scene at the time.
“All of a sudden I heard what sounded like a gunshot, then a woman ran in screaming,” said Heather Cameron, who was shopping inside the store. She said she went outside to see a young man lying on the pavement. He was next to a car, just feet from the store’s entrance.
“There was blood around him,” Cameron said, adding that she looked up and caught a glimpse of a man who appeared to be fumbling with a gun. “Like he was trying to cock it,” she told The Telegraph of Nashua. “Then he ran off.”
Lynnette Malone said the victim appeared to be walking toward the car. She believed a woman and two children were waiting in the car. She said she believes she saw the suspect.