Nicole Hughes with Jamie Bell and daughter Ariella Bell.Photo:Facebook
A New Hampshire man fatally shot his girlfriend, their 18-month-old daughter and injured a 5-year-old girl before killing himself on the banks of a local river, authorities said.
On Saturday at about noon, police in Franklin responded to calls about gunshots at a home and found Nicole Hughes, 35, and her one-and-a half-year-old daughter, Ariella Hughes, dead from shotgun wounds, New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Adam Woods said during a press conference that night.
Hughes’ partner, Jamie Bell, 42, was identified as the suspect.
Jamie Bell.New Hampshire State Police
New Hampshire State Police
Her daughter from a previous relationship was shot in the right arm and suffered lacerations to her back, Woods said.
Nicole Hughes and Ariella Bell.Facebook
She was treated at a Massachusetts hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. She is now staying with a relative, theNew Hampshire Union Leaderreports.
Immediately after the shooting, Bell was seen fleeing the house after the shooting, Woods said, and an intensive search began for Bell throughout the area.
A helicopter scoured the ground below for any sign of Bell, who police told residents was “armed and dangerous.”
“Apparently he died from a self-inflicted cut or incise wound on his neck,” Woods said.
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Woods said little about Hughes’ relationship with Bell.
On Hughes' Facebook page, she noted that she and Bell were engaged. She posted pictures of the couple with Ariella and her 5-year-old daughter in happier times, including taking the kids sledding in January.
On May 24 in a Facebook post, she wrote in. part: “The last few years have taught me that when it is our time to leave this world no one can stop it. We have one life to live. The material things we invest in are left behind only to be discarded. Memories are important to me."
As police continue to investigate, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Mitchell Weinberg conducted autopsies and determined that the cause of Hughes' death was multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of her death was homicide, the Attorney General’s office said in a release.
Ariella’s cause of death was also multiple gunshot wounds, according to the release, and Bell’s was a single wound to the neck, and his manner of death was suicide.
“The investigation into the homicides of Hughes and her daughter, Ariella, continues," the release reads. “It is believed, however, that Mr. Bell shot and killed them both before fleeing and eventually taking his own life. Further information will be provided if and when it becomes available.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
