Feds investigate shooting at New Hampshire-Canada border crossing; suspect hospitalized

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a shooting near the country’s northern border in New Hampshire in which a person is accused of firing a gun at a border patrol agent, who returned fire and struck the subject.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said the incident occurred at about 1 a.m. Sunday morning in Pittsburg, a town of about 800 people at the border with Canada. The FBI did not provide a name of the accused shooter, but said the person was receiving medical attention at a hospital.

The border patrol agent, who the FBI also did not name, was unharmed in the incident, an agency spokesperson said. The shooting happened in a rural community that is home to the state’s sole border crossing with the Canadian province of Quebec.

The incident took place near the port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said. The FBI’s Boston field office will be investigating the shooting along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of New Hampshire, authorities said.

“Initial reports indicate that the subject opened fire on the agent at which time the agent returned fire,” Scott said in a statement. “CBP is cooperating fully with investigators.”

Officials with the FBI, CBP and U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to provide more detail on the accused shooter or the circumstances that led to the exchange of gunfire. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement that information would be released if charges are brought against the person.

Pittsburg is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) north of the state capital of Concord. The town also borders Maine and Vermont as well as Canada. The shooting took place near a usually quiet crossing in the only town in New Hampshire that borders Canada. That international border stretches for close to 60 miles (97 kilometers).

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Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.