The Keene, N.H., man who N.H. State Police shot last week in a West Street parking lot had a long history with law enforcement, including a previous police-involved shooting in the city.
A spokesperson for the N.H. Attorney General’s Office confirmed Wednesday that the man killed in last week’s incident was the same person involved in a 1998 incident at a local market.
Five State Police troopers fired on David A. Ward, 57, after a five-hour standoff Aug. 12 that started when Keene police tried to serve a warrant, authorities say.
The spokesperson said Wednesday it was a warrant for the vehicle.
The multi-hour event brought a heavy police presence to the downtown area and drew a crowd of bystanders.
About 27 years ago, a similar scene disrupted an otherwise-quiet Tuesday afternoon on Beaver Street in Keene.
At the time, Ward, 30, was accused of stealing a truck and wanted in Vermont and New Hampshire for alleged parole violations, The Sentinel reported in 1998.
When Ward stopped in to Beaver Street Market, people recognized him and called police.
After police confronted him, witnesses said Ward reached into the truck and pulled out a revolver, The Sentinel reported. Seeing the gun, Keene Police Officer Carl Patten Jr. fired on Ward, according to a police affidavit.
Ward was taken to Cheshire Medical Center for treatment of multiple gunshot wounds.
The Sentinel later reported Ward had tried to shoot at police and himself during the incident, but the gun didn’t fire, according to the affidavit.
He was charged with theft, criminal threatening, felon in possession of a weapon, reckless conduct and violations of parole after the Beaver Street incident, according to court records, and sentenced to five to 20 years in N.H. State Prison.
At that point, Ward was already known to local police. In 1993, he was sentenced to 2½ to seven years in prison after he and another man, Larry A. Bohannon, were convicted of kidnapping two people.
Police later fatally shot Bohannan in Walpole in 2013 following what law enforcement authorities described as an armed robbery and pursuit.
Ward made headlines again in 2014 — this time for walking away from a Department of Corrections minimum security halfway house in Manchester.
Police later found him in Vernon, Vt., armed with a gun, The Sentinel reported, citing authorities.
Ward was also convicted of robbery in 2017 and, in 2018, of possession of a controlled drug, court records show.
The N.H. Attorney General’s Office is investigating last week’s shooting. Spokespeople for the agency said Ward was armed with a gun but have declined to say if he is believed to have raised or fired it before being shot by police.
A news release from the office said gunshots struck a police vehicle.
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