Also on today’s menu:
Reward In Concord Shootings Now $50,000
Former Japanese Prime Minister Assassinated
Berlin has received a $500,000 grant to assist in the conversion of the Brown Elementary School into 20 affordable housing units. TKB Properties, a subsidiary of New England Family Housing of New Hampton, is purchasing the building, and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Lacasse said the project is likely to cost between $1.16 and $2 million in all.
Brown Elementary School shut down in 2019 due to low enrollment. With the new Community Development Block Grant, it would become the third school in Berlin to be transformed into housing since 2012. Pamela Laflamme, the city’s community development director, noted that TKB Properties also worked to convert Berlin’s former Bartlett Elementary School into housing in 2013.
“Housing is very much needed in Berlin, as well as everywhere else in the state,” Lacasse said. He is hoping to get additional funding for the project from New Hampshire’s recently approved InvestNH Housing Fund in order begin construction this fall.
Reward In Concord Shootings Now $50,000
The Concord Regional Crimeline has increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the murderer(s) responsible for the deaths of Stephen and Djeswende Reid to $50,000.00.
Investigators are searching for a “person of interest”, described as a clean-shaven white male in his late 20s or early 30s, approximately 5’10” tall, medium build, with short brown hair. He was seen wearing a dark blue jacket (possibly with a hood) and khaki-colored pants, carrying a black backpack, in the vicinity of the shooting on April 18.
Anyone with information about the person’s identity or whereabouts is asked to call the Concord Police Department at 603-225-8600, leave an anonymous tip at the Concord Regional Crimeline, 603-226-3100 or www.concordregionalcrimeline.com, or text TIP234 and send your message to CRIMES (274637). All Crimeline tips remain anonymous.
The Reids left their residence in the Alton Woods apartment complex around 2:22 p.m. on April 18, going for a walk that led them to the Broken Ground Trails off Portsmouth Street in Concord. Their bodies were recovered on April 21 in a wooded area near the Marsh Loop Trail.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Assassinated
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020, died after being shot during a campaign speech today in western Japan.
Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara. He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment. Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart in addition to two neck wounds that damaged an artery, causing extensive bleeding. He was in a state of cardio and pulmonary arrest when he arrived at the hospital and never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.
Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack. Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, on suspicion of attempted murder. They said an explosives team raided the suspect’s home to gather evidence. Yamagami had served in Japan’s navy for three years in the 2000s. He reportedly told authorities that he wanted to kill Abe because of complaints unrelated to political views.
Japan is considered one of the world’s safest nations, with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
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