A gunman opened fire during a wedding celebration at Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua, New Hampshire Saturday night, killing one and wounding two others while shouting “Free Palestine.”
Hunter Nadeau, a 23-year-old former country club employee, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting Robert Steven DeCesare, 59, who was at a table with his wife and daughter when the attack began. Two other guests were seriously wounded before wedding guests subdued Nadeau by striking him with a chair.
Multiple witnesses reported hearing Nadeau shout “Free Palestine” and “the children are safe” during the shooting. Tom Bartelson of Pepperell, Massachusetts, who was attending his nephew’s wedding, said the gunman appeared to be targeting someone.
“Getting together for a dance for the bride and groom and then all chaos went off,” Bartelson said. “We heard about six shots and everybody ducked for cover and next thing you know we’re rushed into safe spots and things like that.”
Wedding guests had just gathered on the dance floor for a traditional Greek plate-smashing celebration when the terror attack erupted. Sophie Flabouris described the moment the festivities turned deadly.
“We had just gathered around the dance floor. We were about to do a Greek smashing of the plates and throwing the dollar bills. The bride had just come up to me and gave me the plates to say, ‘All right, you give this to my husband.’ And all of a sudden we heard ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.’ Heard five shots,” Flabouris told WCVB-TV. “All of a sudden heard ‘Gun!’ Chaos, screaming, and then running.”
Emily Ernst saw the gunman dressed in all black with a mask. “We just saw him raise the gun and then we ran,” Ernst said. “I ran through the kitchen for my life.”
DeCesare’s mother, Evie O’Rourke, said her son was killed by the gunman when he tried to stop him.
“They cannot wrap their heads around it,” O’Rourke said of her daughter-in-law and granddaughter. “They saw the whole thing, they saw him fall, and had to escape.”
DeCesare’s daughter is scheduled to marry in a few weeks and will not have her father walk her down the aisle.
Wedding DJ Michael Homewood witnessed patrons fighting back and take down the gunman.
“He hit him over the head with a chair, and he probably saved a bunch of lives just doing that,” Homewood said of one of the guests.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said the guests showed “selfless acts of courage” by intervening to stop the shooter.
“While this incident was tragic, it was not nearly as tragic as it could have been,” Formella said.
Nadeau was a former Sky Meadow Country Club employee, though authorities have not disclosed when he worked there or why he left. Investigators are still determining his motive.
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., said she was “closely monitoring the tragic reports” and her heart was with the victims, families and community.