Carl Drega

Carl Drega (January 19, 1935 – August 19, 1997) was an American spree killer who killed four people in Colebrook, New Hampshire, on August 19, 1997, in what is known as the Colebrook shootings.

Drega had several long-term disputes with town and state government officials over his property in Columbia since the early 1980s. Drega shot and killed two New Hampshire state troopers, a judge and a newspaper editor in Colebrook. He also wounded four law enforcement officers before being shot to death in a gunfight with police in Bloomfield, Vermont.

Background

Carl Drega was born on January 19, 1935, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Polish immigrants.

Drega had a long history of conflict with government officials over code enforcement issues, starting in the 1970s over whether he could use tar paper to side his vacation house in Columbia, New Hampshire , on the banks of the Connecticut River. He claimed that, in 1981, a rainstorm caused of the riverbank to collapse. Drega decided to dump and pack enough dirt to repair the erosion damage, saying this would restore his lot to its original size. State officials, on the other hand, contested that Drega was trying to change the course of the river. . Drega bought a Colt AR-15 rifle and armored vest, and began equipping his property with early-warning electronic noise and motion detectors.

Shooting

On August 19, 1997, at about 2:30 p.m., New Hampshire state trooper Scott Phillips stopped Drega in the parking lot of LaPerle's IGA supermarket in neighboring Colebrook for having too much rust on his pickup truck. Drega got out of his truck with his rifle and fired Drega followed Phillips into the field and murdered him.

Trooper Leslie Lord pulled into the LaPerle's parking lot moments later, and from approximately 150 feet (45 m) away, Drega shot and killed Lord before he could get out of his police car. Saunders retreated under the hail of fire by driving in reverse, and crashing

Memorials

U.S. Route 3 between Pittsburg and Colebrook is named the Trooper Leslie G. Lord Highway and from Colebrook to North Stratford the Trooper Scott E. Phillips Highway. The Vickie Bunnell Preserve surrounds Bunnell Mountain (formerly Blue Mountain) in Columbia. A memorial stone to the four murder victims was erected by the town of Colebrook near the News and Sentinel building. Below their names is the inscription, "Their Deeds Are Their Memorials" .