New Hampshire

New Charges for Man Accused of Killing 1 Man, Wounding Another Miles Apart in NH

Robert Gagnon is accused of hitting Robert Prest, an 83-year-old from Lyndeborough, multiple times in the head with a hatchet on the day before Thanksgiving

NBC10 Boston

Authorities pictured above on Center Road in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire.

A man faces charges including first-degree murder in a rampage through southern New Hampshire that left a senior dead and another man wounded the day before Thanksgiving 2022, prosecutors said Thursday.

Robert Gagnon is accused of bludgeoning Robert Prest to death with a hatchet in Lyndeborough, shooting another man in Brookline and stealing two vehicles, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

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The new charges were brought down in an indictment from the Hillsborough County Grand Jury on Feb. 16, prosecutors said. Gagnon was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder, theft and more.

He is accused of hitting Prest, an 83-year-old from Lyndeborough, multiple times in the head with a hatchet, on Wednesday, Nov. 23 — the day before Thanksgiving. He also stole Prest's gun and a BMW car, prosecutors said.

Gagnon is also accused of shooting a 44-year-old in Brookline, New Hampshire and taking a Jeep that belongs to another man, from Peterborough.

It wasn't immediately clear if Gagnon had an attorney who could speak to the charges.

Prest was found dead at his Lyndeborough home on Center Road about 9:30 a.m., that Friday, and while he was initially believed to have been fatally shot, authorities later said his autopsy determined he was killed by blows to the head.

Authorities are investigating a crime spree that spanned several New Hampshire communities and involved two separate shootings.

The shooting in Brookline, about 15 miles south of Lyndeborough, on the Massachusetts border, happened several before Prest's body was found that day, authorities have said. The man was rushed to a hospital from a home on Townsend Hill Road.

Authorities had previously said they believed the two incidents were related but did not elaborate on the connection at all.

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