Police fatally shoot man, then find dead child in his car on Piscataqua River Bridge

Police found the body of an 8-year-old child in the car of a man who was shot dead by officers on Thursday morning on the Piscataqua River Bridge, a span of Interstate 95 which connects New Hampshire and Maine, briefly shutting down the major artery that stretches from the U.S.-Canada border down to Miami.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Justice, officers confronted the man, who was wanted in the killing of a woman at a home in Troy, New Hampshire, around 100 miles west of the bridge.

After officers shot the man dead, the body of a 8-year-old who had been fatally shot was found inside the car on the bridge.

Officers were seen packaging a body in Kittery near the bridge, although they did not confirm if it was the suspect shot by police, the Portsmouth Herald, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

Authorities will not release the identities of the deceased until a medical examiner formally identifies the suspect and next of kin are notified, Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for Maine State Police, told the Herald.

A local news team reportedly heard shots fired on the bridge just before 5 a.m. on Thursday.

The shooting prompted officials to briefly close both directions of traffic on Interstate 95 over the bridge on Thursday morning before it was reopened just before 10 a.m., according to New England 511. The bridge, around 60 miles north of Boston, connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine.

Drivers were diverted to two local bridges, the Memorial Bridge and Sarah Long Bridge, causing traffic snarls, the Herald reported. The Kittery Town Hall delayed its morning opening as a result.

Authorities say there is no threat to the public. The state police and offices of the attorney generals of both states are working together to investigate the incident. The Maine Attorney General’s Office is also looking into the officer-involved shooting.