How selfless action kept a country club shooting from turning into an even worse tragedy
WCVB, FAMILY PHOTO, CNN
By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
(CNN) — Sky Meadow Country Club, nestled against sprawling greenery at the highest peak of Nashua, New Hampshire, boasts a beautiful backdrop for recreation and special occasions – a golf course, ballroom, fine-dining restaurant, patio, bar and more.
On Saturday night, the club was bustling again. Diners chattered away and ate at the restaurant while wedding guests gathered on the dance floor. The wedding DJ announced that guests might hear some loud noises from a dish-breaking tradition popular at Greek weddings.
But instead of shattering plates, gunshots cut through the music and the celebration devolved into chaos — the latest instance of gun violence erupting at a seemingly safe place in the US.
“We heard about six shots and everybody ducked for cover,” Tom Bartelson, who was at the wedding, told the Associated Press.
Hunter Nadeau, 23, a Nashua resident and former employee of the club, is accused of opening fire in the club, killing one person and wounding two others before fleeing. Four other club patrons were injured in the incident, according to authorities.
Quick and selfless action taken by patrons in the restaurant, authorities said, prevented even more tragedy.
The first shots came in the club’s hallway where a man acting as a host for the wedding was shot, Nashua Police Chief Kevin Rourke said Sunday. The gunman, who was armed with a handgun, then moved into PRIME, the club’s steakhouse, Rourke said.
He was reportedly shouting multiple messages, which authorities believe were designed to create chaos and confusion in the moment.
Some guests ran, while others tried to hide.
Robert Steven DeCesare was at Sky Meadow having dinner with his wife and daughter, when the gunman arrived, his mother, Evie O’Rourke, told CNN. The 59-year-old lunged at the gunman and got caught in the gunfire trying to protect them, his wife, Charlene DeCesare, told the AP.
O’Rourke said her son died saving his family.
“He did what I’m sure was his instinct to do,” O’Rourke told CNN affiliate WCVB. “His thought was to take care of his family.”
Sophie Flabouris, a guest at the wedding, said a man hit the shooter over the head with a chair, forcing him to drop his gun.
The shooter then fled, she told CNN affiliate WHDH. “He went through the reception area into the kitchen; he had blood on him,” she said. Wedding DJ Michael Homewood told WHDH he had seen a man with a bloody wound stalking across the dance floor in a daze.
Whoever hit the man over the head “probably saved a bunch of lives just doing that,” Homewood told WCVB.
Responding law enforcement officials found Nadeau in a nearby neighborhood and he made no attempt to flee, Rourke said.
The attack lasted for less than a minute, authorities said, and they found Nadeau within 30 minutes of the shooting.
State Attorney General John M. Formella on Sunday commended the courage of patrons who intervened. “(They kept) this a much more contained event than it may otherwise have been,” he said.
For DeCesare’s family, that minute — where a man walked into a restaurant with a handgun and decided to open fire — shattered them. DeCesare’s daughter is set to be married in November, his mother told CNN affiliate WBZ, and her father won’t get the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle.
“It can happen to anybody. Any minute, it’s a precious life,” O’Rourke said.
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CNN’s Danya Gainor, Karina Tsui, Chris Boyette, Leigh Waldman and Maria Sole Campinoti contributed to this report.
