BRENTWOOD, N.H., May 13 (UPI) -- A police officer in Brentwood, N.H., responding to a report of gunshots, was killed as he entered a house that later exploded and burned, investigators said.
Steve Arkell, 48, a part-time officer in the small town in southern New Hampshire, was airlifted to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Attorney General Joseph Foster said at a news conference late Monday. Michael Nolan, his alleged killer, died in the fire that gutted the house he shared with his elderly father.
Another police officer who tried to follow Arkell into the home was forced to withdraw by gunfire.
The shooting and explosion rocked Mill Pond Crossing, a subdivision where homeowners must be at least 55. Susan and Wayne Hughes, who live next door to the Nolans, said they heard Michael arguing with his father, Walter, and the quarrel became so violent that someone called police.
"When the cop walked into the house, we heard a whole bunch of gunfire," Susan Hughes told the (Manchester) Union Leader.
Hughes said she saw Walter Nolan being handcuffed after he was brought out of the house.
Neighbors said they rarely saw Michael Nolan, who appeared to spend most of his time watching television in his second-floor bedroom. They described his father as a man in his 80s and said his wife died about two years ago.
