Authorities: Police gunfire did not kill 8-year-old who was found in the vehicle on an I-95 bridge

KITTERY, Maine -- A man being pursued in the killing of a woman in New Hampshire was shot by police and tumbled from the Interstate 95 bridge that connects the state to Maine, officials said Thursday. An 8-year-old boy was found dead in his vehicle.

The child’s death was not associated with gunfire from three law enforcement officials who discharged their weapons after the man stepped out of his vehicle and raised a weapon after ignoring police negotiators, Col. William Ross, chief of Maine State Police, told reporters. The man tumbled from the bridge and his body was later recovered from the Piscataqua River by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Piscataqua River Bridge reopened Thursday morning after being closed for about seven hours, Maine State Police said. Traffic was backed up on both sides as drivers were diverted to two other bridges.

The episode began with the man calling police shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday to report a domestic altercation with his wife in Troy, New Hampshire, where police found a woman’s body about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away in the western part of the state, officials said.

Police tracked the man’s vehicle to the span that connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Kittery, Maine — and provides a conduit for tens of thousands of vehicles cross the bridge daily.

One Maine state trooper and two New Hampshire troopers fired when the man emerged from the vehicle and raised his weapon, Ross said. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire shortly after 4 a.m.

Police didn’t know the boy was in the car and discovered his body after the shooting, said Ross, who stressed that it was “abundantly clear” that the boy was not hit by any of the bullets fired by the troopers in the confrontation.

No names have been released.

Between 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles use the Piscataqua bridge each day, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

The incident began at a time of light traffic on I-95 but lines of cars and trucks began to back up as police blocked traffic in both directions for hours. The man’s body was recovered around 8:30 a.m., Ross said.

There are multiple cameras in use on the bridge to monitor traffic, but there is no record of the shooting because they are not set to record, according Paul Merrill, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation.

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Associated Press writers David Sharp and Patrick Whittle reported from Portland, Maine, and Kathy McCormack contributed from Concord, New Hampshire. Caleb Jones reported from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.