Wedding guests were gathering on the dance floor at a New Hampshire country club Saturday evening when the DJ warned the room to expect some loud noises from a dish-breaking tradition popular at Greek weddings.
But the anticipated sounds of celebration and shattering plates were interrupted by popping noises in the next room, witnesses said.
“It sounded like balloons, because, you know, we’re at a festivity … but then you look around and we didn’t have balloons,” wedding guest Tom Bartelson told CNN affiliate WHDH.
The guests quickly realized the noise was gunshots being fired by a man in the club’s restaurant and began to scatter for safety. Some went out the door or into the kitchen, others took cover under tables, witnesses said.
59-year-old Robert Steven DeCesare was killed and two other adults were injured in the shooting at the Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua, state Attorney General John M. Formella said in a statement early Sunday.
Officials said Saturday night people also suffered non-gunshot-related injuries in the chaos, but didn’t specify how many.
Hunter Nadeau, 23, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in DeCesare’s death, according to Formella’s statement, which said there was no known connection between the two men.
“Additional charges likely will be brought, including for the additional shooting victims,” the statement said.
Nadeau will be arraigned Monday, the attorney general said.
Authorities initially believed there were two suspects but revised their statement after reviewing surveillance footage showing a lone shooter, they said Saturday.
The shooting marks another instance of gun violence erupting at a place in the US not usually prone to danger. “It’s the lottery you don’t want to win in America,” wedding DJ Michael Homewood told WHDH.
Amid the chaos of the shooting, a man walked through the banquet hall, stalking across the dance floor in a daze with a bloody wound, Homewood said.
“I knew it was the guy because he wasn’t dressed up for a wedding, he wasn’t dressed up to go to dinner,” Homewood told WHDH. “For lack of a better explanation, he just looked like a weirdo.”
Sophie Flabouris, a guest at the wedding, said a man had hit the shooter over the head with a chair, forcing him to drop his gun. The shooter then fled, she told WHDH. “He went through the reception area into the kitchen, he had blood on him,” she said.
Flabouris hid under a table when she heard the gunshots, telling WHDH that it was a “fight or flight” moment.
“To experience for the first time … you read about it on the news, you hear about it … we practice this in school,” she said. “But when it actually happens, it’s like fight or flight.”
Tom Bartelson, who was also at the wedding, told WHDH he heard the gunman yell “the children are safe” and “free Palestine.”
When asked about the gunman’s alleged words, Hinckley said, “We’re dealing with the facts and information that we gather … and once we have an actual motive that we can share, we’ll certainly do that.”
Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess called the incident a “tragedy,” emphasizing that one loss of life is still too many.
He expressed shock and surprise at such a shooting happening in his town. “No matter how unlikely it seems, it can happen where you are,” Donchess told reporters Saturday night, vowing to “bring appropriate justice” to those responsible.
Nashua is about 45 minutes from Boston on the Massachusetts border.
The New Hampshire State Police is assisting with the shooting investigation, it said on X.
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Maggie Goodlander said they are monitoring the incident.
“Billy and I are praying for those injured,” Shaheen wrote. “There is no place in our state for this type of senseless violence.”
“My heart is with the victims, their families, and the entire Nashua community as we await more information,” Goodlander said.
Sen. Maggie Hassan said her “heart goes out to the families of those impacted,” and she is “grateful for the work of the law enforcement officers and first responders at the scene.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Leigh Waldman and Maria Sole Campinoti contributed to this report.
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