Police cleared in Tyngsboro man's shooting death
Porcus Ubiquitous
By JACK MINCH
Sun Staff
HUDSON, N.H. The attorney general's office has exonerated Nashua and
Hudson police officers for the Sept. 2 shooting death of Joseph
Collopy by Hudson's town square.
Collopy, 64, of Tyngsboro, was killed in a hail of gunfire after
pointing a .38-caliber revolver at Nashua Officer Anthony Pivero.
Collopy had just murdered his estranged wife, Danielle Nantel, and her
friend, Paul Burton, in Nashua at about 7:45 p.m., when police
surrounded his truck on Derry Street adjacent to the square.
Pivero started shooting after Collopy pointed the revolver at his
head, then turned it toward the officer. Several other officers also
began shooting.
The attorney general's investigation rejected the possibility that
police used excessive force. New Hampshire law allows police to shoot
when they are threatened with deadly force, according to the report
issued by the attorney general's office.
"The officers had to act immediately when they learned he had a gun
and it was pointing at another officer," said Assistant Attorney
General Kelly A. Ayotte.
He did not fire at police, according to the report, which found no
evidence that he reloaded after firing six shots in the killings.
Bullets struck Collopy, his pickup truck, trees and a nearby home.
Investigators recovered 22 bullets.
Collopy, a former Massachusetts police officer, was struck eight
times, including one bullet that hit him twice, the report said. He
was also wounded by flying debris as glass and other truck parts were
smashed by bullets.
The attorney general's report describes Collopy as a man consumed by
Nantel, 37, amid their crumbling relationship and her friendship with
Burton, 45, of 9 Monroe Drive, Hudson. He had violated a restraining
order she took out against him, and had followed her and Burton on at
least one occasion, the report said.
He had been drinking hours before the shootings and had a
blood-alcohol level of .193 percent when he was shot, according to the
report.
Nantel was shot three times at home at 71 Underhill St., Nashua,
including once in the head, chest and back, while her twin 9-year-olds
watched. Burton was shot once in the chest and twice in the back.
Minutes after the murders, Collopy called his grown daughter, Marianne
Demers, insisting he was happy and announcing plans to kill himself.
He said it would be a good thing and went so far as to tell Demers how
to spread his ashes after the funeral, according to the report.
Nashua police spotted Collopy on Arlington Street about a half-mile
from the murder scene and followed him across Veterans Bridge onto
Ferry Street in Hudson.
The truck turned onto Derry Street and was surrounded by six police
cruisers, while two Hudson officers hid behind trees on the square,
the report said.
Pivero blocked the front of Collopy's truck with his cruiser and hid
behind the trunk.
Pivero and Hudson Sgt. Michael Smith ordered him to put down his gun,
but Collopy pointed it at his own head. Then Collopy pointed it at
Pivero, and the shooting started, according to the report.
Nashua officers Michael Sullivan and Kerry Baxter fired along with
Pivero, Smith and Hudson Officer Michael Niven. Each fired four or
five shots, according to the report.
Hudson Police Chief Richard Gendron and Nashua Police Chief Donald
Gross cleared the officers within weeks of the shooting.
Jack Minch's e-mail address is jmi...@lowellsun.com .
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