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Bullets continue flying into homes on same NH block

LITCHFIELD, N.H. — Several residents in one small Litchfield, New Hampshire neighborhood are complaining about finding bullets in their homes, sometimes coming within feet of people. The complaints have been happening for the last five years and they are blaming a nearby gun range.

Residents on Tanager Way said they’ve found at least four different bullets, including one in front of a home five years ago, one through a front window last year, and one through a side window last week in Kevin and Janine Anctil’s home.

“There is a hole through the screen, [a] hole through two panes of glass and a hole through the curtain as well,” Kevin said.

When that bullet went through the Anctil’s home, it thankfully did not go two windows down where there’s normally someone sitting right on the other side.

“If it had been a mere 10 feet that way it will be a much different discussion we were having right now,” Kevin said.

Neighbors said the four bullets are all coming from the same direction, the Londonderry Fish and Game Club, which has been there for about 70 years.

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“I’m not really sure I have an immediate answer for that,” said Londonderry Fish and Game Club chairman Richard Olson when asked what else needs to be done for nearby residents. “It’s not been established where the gun came from. Certainly, we built our ranges with due diligence because we did not want that to happen.”

Olson said the nearest house is about a mile away and it is possible for someone to completely miss the target, shoot over the trees and have it land on someone’s house. But he added that, with the type of members they have and the rules in play, it’s just not likely.

“We would find out about something like that pretty quick,” Olson said. “It’s just something that’s not done. It’s not the culture. That’s reckless use of a firearm.”

“Prior to tonight I was couching my statements very carefully,” Kevin said. “There’s an ongoing police investigation so I cannot reveal too much, but I have been reinforced in my beliefs and I don’t have any doubt that these bullets are originating from this gun range. Nothing else adds up.”

“It doesn’t matter what we decide about where they’re coming from,” Janine said. “The bullets are coming into homes, and they just need to stop.”

This has now become a game of who can prove it. The gun range said it could be people firing guns outside of their property, but residents ask why it’s only their street. They said they don’t want someone to die before they can get an outside organization to audit the range and its safety measures. They say if four bullets hit homes, there are likely more around here they haven’t found.

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