Tensions surrounding a newly-established homeless encampment in Nashua, New Hampshire, allegedly led to gunfire this week.
Nashua police say they arrested 31-year-old John Smith Jr. for criminal threatening with a deadly weapon in connection to the incident that occurred on Wednesday. He was also charged with falsifying physical evidence, intentionally destroying video footage of the incident and three counts of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon.
According to police, officers received a report on Oct. 4 of a man who shot a gun at a woman in the area of Crown Street at Chase Street. Detectives located evidence at the scene that confirmed the report of gunshots in the area, police said, and they were able to identify Smith as the suspect.
The gun used was later found by detectives, police said.
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Katherine Bathrick tells NBC10 Boston she's walking in fear after she was the one shot at Wednesday night.
“I have to walk with a damn machete because I’m scared for my life,” she said. "Sad. Judged. Just trying to get by you know. To have a stranger just say the things he did to me and shoot at me, it sucks.”
Court records show Smith repeatedly called Bathrick a "junkie" near the tracks and said "get off my property" before shooting at her several times following an argument between them. In statements, Smith says he's frustrated with this new temporary homeless encampment set up by the city, relocating people from near the railroad.
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"I was scared, I was terrified obviously and I stopped up there because I didn’t know if he was going to keep pursuing me and I didn’t want him to come down here and start shooting at everyone else, you know what I mean? Like shooting at someone three times?!”
Those living in the area are shaken up and feel unfairly judged.
“The atmosphere's been a little tense. Everybody’s been a little on edge,” one man said.
“Those few people that do have issues, everybody puts all the attention on them and kind of groups the rest in the demographic,” another woman said.
Most tell NBC10 Boston that they have nowhere else to go.
“The other places we’ve tried to go, the city put us here! The city’s responsible for us here! We can’t go anywhere else,” Bathrick said. "No there’s no shelters available!”
Bathrick has this message for her alleged shooter:
“I actually feel sorry for you and I forgive you and maybe you can change and see I’m just the same as you," she said. "I’m just another human being.”
Smith was held on preventative detention pending his arraignment Friday afternoon in Hillsborough County Superior Court. The judge says she will reconsider bail if more evidence comes forward showing that Smith was acting in self-defense or if he's accepted into pre-trial mental health services.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Nashua Police Department at 503-589-1665.
