AG: State police trooper legally justified in fatally shooting Walpole man

Oct. 20—Editor's note: This article contains descriptions of violence. These details are included because of their relevance.

CONCORD — The N.H. State Police trooper who shot and killed a Walpole man in February while responding to a domestic violence report was legally justified, N.H. Attorney General John Formella announced Thursday.

Noah Sanctuary, who has about 14 years of law-enforcement experience, shot Christopher Tkal on Feb. 20, according to the Attorney General's Office. Formella said during a news conference in Concord on Thursday afternoon that his office determined the shooting was justified.

Tkal, 57, died of multiple gunshot wounds in the encounter with State Police, who were responding to a 911 call from a woman at Tkal's home at 1461 County Road, Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said during the news conference. The call came in at around 11:10 p.m. on Feb. 19, and the shooting happened around 1 a.m., Agati said.

Police found a loaded rifle under Tkal's body, according to the Attorney General's Office. Agati said the investigation determined Tkal had aimed the weapon, with its safety off, at officers from inside the home's garage.

From outside, Sanctuary fired six shots, all of which went through the window of the right garage door, according to the Attorney General's Office. An autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found Tkal died from four gunshot wounds — to his head, his face, his left arm and his back — the report from the Attorney General's Office states.

The medical examiner determined the manner of death to be homicide, which is defined as the killing of one person by another, Agati said, adding that the wound to Tkal's arm was consistent with him holding it in a raised position.

No other officers fired their weapons, the report states. There is also no indication Tkal fired his gun at any time that night, Agati said in response to questions from reporters. None of the officers were equipped with body cameras, and there were no active security cameras at the house or video footage showing the shooting, he said.

Tkal, who had no prior criminal record, was employed as vice president of operations for quality and patient safety at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene at the time of his death, Agati said.

Earlier the night of the shooting, the woman, who knew Tkal, had called police from a first-floor bathroom, where she said she had locked herself amid an argument with him, according to the Attorney General's Office. She told police that Tkal had grabbed her and held a knife to her throat, causing her to fear for her life, before she escaped, Agati said. She also told police she believed Tkal was in the basement of the home, where his "man cave" was located and where he had access to guns, the report states.

Sanctuary arrived at the home around 11:30 p.m., followed by Trooper Anthony LaPlaca, and found the woman inside her vehicle in the driveway, Agati said. She informed police both she and Tkal had been drinking and the officers had her wait in a cruiser down the street for her safety, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Shortly after, officers from the Walpole Police Department, Bellows Falls Police Department and the Windham County Sheriff's Office in Vermont arrived at the scene, Agati said.

These officers, who positioned themselves in front of the house, saw Tkal standing just outside the front door and looking in the direction of the officers and their marked cruisers, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Over a loudspeaker, officers called out commands to Tkal but he did not respond and returned inside the house a few moments later, just after midnight, Agati said, briefly showing a video from one of the cruisers he said depicted the dark, poorly lit conditions that night.

When LaPlaca at one point asked the woman for Tkal's cellphone number, she told him she had just spoken to him and he said he was "just going to end it all," Agati said. LaPlaca tried to call Tkal's number, but he didn't pick up, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Windham County Deputy Sheriff Mario Checchi and LaPlaca then went to the tree line where Sanctuary had taken cover and soon observed Tkal standing in the dark to the right of the garage with a long black object that appeared to be a rifle in the "low ready" position, the report states.

Officers shouted for Tkal to drop his weapon, at which point he moved back into the garage, Agati said. Checchi said he saw Sanctuary illuminate the right garage bay door with a light and took cover as he heard several gunshots from what he believed to be Sanctuary's rifle, the report states.

Sanctuary told the Attorney General's Office in an interview on March 7 that he saw Tkal through the garage window raise a long gun and point it in the direction of him and LaPlaca, as well as another occupied home in the line of fire behind the officers, according to Agati. He said Sanctuary then fired through the garage window.

After the shots, officers lost sight of Tkal and did not observe any movement from inside the house as Walpole and Bellows Falls officers continued to try to contact him using the loudspeaker, Agati said.

Police soon determined that Tkal was dead and secured the scene pending a search warrant, according to the report. Investigators later recovered all six spent shell casings in the area where Sanctuary was positioned for cover and Tkal's rifle — which was loaded with 29 rounds in the magazine and an additional round in the chamber — from under his body, Agati said.

Tkal's rifle, which he had legally purchased three years earlier, was equipped with a tactical scope, according to the Attorney General's Office. In his house, police also found two additional magazines, each loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition, and a 9mm handgun Tkal had legally purchased in 2014, the report states.

A toxicology report determined Tkal's blood alcohol content to be more than twice the legal driving limit and also found the presence of Delta-9 THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, according to the Attorney General's Office.

On April 6, a representative of Cheshire Medical Center contacted police to notify them of items recovered from Tkal's office that included a thumb drive containing audio and video files that appeared to show instances of violence between Tkal and the woman, according to the report.

Agati said these audio and video files, which could not be dated but had been made prior to the night of the shooting, gave an insight into Tkal's thinking that night. In the videos, according to the report, Tkal responds to the woman telling him she was going to call the police by saying, "Good, let them come, I'll make my final stand right here" and that he would "go down in a blaze of [expletive] glory."

Sanctuary has worked for N.H. State Police since 2016, for the Walpole Police Department for three years prior to that and for five years at the Chesterfield Police Department, according to the Attorney General's Office. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years and has been a member of the N.H. State Police SWAT team since 2018.

Sanctuary — whose brother is Walpole Police Chief Justin Sanctuary — has been at the scene of at least two other shootings where officers fired their weapons, according to Sentinel reporting. In 2013, he was on the scene in Walpole when police shot and killed Larry Bohannon of Grafton, N.H., who law-enforcement authorities said had robbed a Bellows Falls office supply store with a gun before leading police on a high-speed chase. The Attorney General's Office determined that Cameron Prior, the Alstead officer who shot Bohannon, was justified in his use of deadly force.

In 2021, the N.H. State Police SWAT Team responded to Claremont when a man barricaded himself in a building. Sanctuary was one of six officers to exchange gunfire with Jeffrey Ely, who died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds, a release from the Attorney General's Office said at the time. Ely fired at multiple pedestrians before barricading himself in a warehouse, according to a report from the Attorney General's Office. The office determined the officers acted lawfully.

A State Police spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation by the Attorney General's Office into Tkal's death.

Walpole Police Chief Justin Sanctuary said of the investigation Thursday in a phone interview, "It's the outcome that I expected from knowing who the officers involved are and how they conduct themselves, how they're trained and how they think."

"It's always good after a full investigation to have what you expect to be confirmed," he said. "With the Attorney General's Office, it's always a very thorough investigation so I have no doubt the truth has been uncovered."

If you or a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, MCVP: Crisis & Prevention Center's 24/7 hotline is at 1-888-511-6287. Confidential advocates are also available to help through New Hampshire's Statewide Domestic and Sexual Violence Helpline at 1-866-644-3574.

Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at

@rspencerKS