67-year-old Gunman in N.H. Killing Spree

  • Share
  • Read Later
COLEBROOK, N.H.: A 67-year-old man with a history of hostility toward local government gunned down a judge, a newspaper editor and two state troopers yesterday, before police shot and killed him. In a routine traffic stop, Carl Drega shot two police officers with an assault rifle, stole their cruiser and proceeded to the building that houses the newspaper and Judge Vickie Bunnell's law office, where he shot her in the back. He also shot and killed News and Sentinel Editor Dennis Joos. Drega continued on his rampage in the stolen cruiser, wounding four police officers and a Fish and Game officer in nearby Vermont before taking a fatal bullet himself.

Drega had a history of conflict with officials in his nearby hometown of Columbia, where Bunnell had been a selectwoman. The town had taken him to court two decades ago for a zoning violation. Six years ago he walked into the town hall, started rummaging through files and had to be removed in handcuffs under Bunnell's orders. Bunnell described Drega as a "time bomb," according to one News and Sentinel reporter.