AG: A private citizen killed police officer's murderer
Concord – A police officer was fatally shot and run over by a man who had assaulted him four years earlier, authorities said Saturday. The shooter, a cousin of ski champion Bode Miller, was then killed by a passer-by who grabbed the officer's gun.
Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said Liko Kenney, 24, shot Cpl. Bruce McKay four times, then ran over him with his car after a traffic stop Friday evening.
Gregory Floyd, who was driving by with his son, grabbed McKay's gun, then shot Kenney when he refused to put his gun down, Ayotte said.
"This once again reminds of us of the difficult and dangerous work that is done everyday by the law enforcement of this state to protect each of us," Ayotte said at a news conference in Concord. "The police officers of this state, including Cpl. McKay, are nothing short of heroes."
Authorities said McKay pulled Kenney over for speeding on Route 116. Kenney then took off, and McKay pursued him for about a mile and half before pulling his cruiser in front of Kenney's car and pushing it off the road.
The officer used pepper-spray on Kenney and his passenger, then turned around, Ayotte said. That's when he was shot.
"Cpl. McKay's cruiser video confirmed for police investigating this case that in fact Mr. Kenney had discharged several shots at Cpl. McKay before running him over," Ayotte said.
Soon after, Floyd arrived and confronted Kenney while his son, also named Gregory Floyd, called for help using the officer's radio. Authorities have determined that his actions in shooting Kenney were justified.
An autopsy showed McKay died of four gunshot wounds. Autopsy results on Kenney were incomplete Saturday.
McKay, 48, was a 12-year veteran of the Franconia Police Department and previously had worked in Haverhill. Survivors include a daughter, Ayotte said.
"It really tears at the fabric of the community and the fabric of the state," said Gov. John Lynch, who visited the town of about 900 residents Saturday. People paid their respects at the local police station, bringing flowers.
Ayotte said McKay had "prior dealings" with Kenney, who was convicted of assaulting the officer and resisting arrest in 2003. She had no other details of that incident and brushed off suggestions that an officer should have let someone else handle the traffic stop given his history with the driver.
"This is a situation where this corporal is doing his job in Franconia ... he's not going to look the other way when he see someone violating the law," she said. "The history is that Mr. Kenney was convicted of these offenses. If the standard was that police officers were going to remove a police officer from interacting with anyone who has a criminal history that they had some involvement in, that frankly, would not make a lot of sense."
Bode Miller's father, Woody Miller, said there was a history of animosity between the officer and his nephew, who claimed the officer had once beaten him during an arrest.
"They had a long relationship," said Miller, who operates an international tennis camp in nearby Easton. "There's been physical altercations between them before in the course of being arrested."
Bill Kenney, another uncle, agreed. "They had it in for each other."
Miller said he did not know the officer well. "I have never even had a confrontation with him."
He said he last saw his nephew Friday morning, when Liko Kenney was on his way to work. He was running late, but he was in good spirits.
Miller said Kenney, who lived next door to him, didn't have a steady job, but often took work cutting firewood and picking fiddlehead ferns, a wild green that grows in the region and is considered a delicacy.
Bode Miller, who had bailed his cousin out of jail once, was on his way home to Franconia, his father said.
Lynch ordered all state flags be flown at half-staff in memory of the officer. Franconia's Board of Selectmen released a statement saying that the town "mourns the tragedy that befell our community on the evening of May 11. ... We ask that you all embrace in your thoughts and feelings the families affected by this tragic incident."
The shooting happened near this town in the White Mountain National Forest, popular with skiers and tourists who visited the Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation and the state's symbol that crumbled into pieces four years ago.
It's the second time in less than a year that a New Hampshire police officer has been killed on the job. In October, when Manchester Officer Michael Briggs was shot in the head while investigating reports of gunshots in an alley. Michael Addison is charged with capital murder in the shooting.
THIS MAN AND HIS SON DESERVE A MEDAL FOR THEIR ACTIONS. GOOD SHOOTING FLOYD'S.
