Police Chief Michael P. Maloney
Greenland Police Department, New Hampshire
End of Watch: Thursday, April 12, 2012
Biographical Info
Age: 48
Tour of Duty: 26 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: April 12, 2012
Weapon Used: Rifle
Suspect Info: Deceased
Agency Contact Information
Town Administrator Karen Anderson
Greenland Police Department
P.O. Box 100
579 Portsmouth Avenue
Greenland, NH 03840
Phone: (603) 431-4624
Police Chief Michael Maloney was shot and killed while serving a drug-related search warrant with officers from the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force shortly after 6:00 p.m. A subject in the home opened fire with a rifle, killing Chief Maloney and wounding four other officers.
The subject barricaded in the house following the shooting. He and a female were found dead several hours later after a SWAT team forced entry into the home.
Chief Maloney has served in law enforcement for 26 years and served with the Greenland Police Department since 2000. He was eight days from retirement.
GREENLAND — Community members of this small town and far beyond were stunned Thursday night with the news that Police Chief Michael Maloney, 48, was shot and killed while participating in a drug raid operation.
Maloney was scheduled to retire April 20 from the post he’d held for the past 12 years.
As of midnight, police were unsure whether the suspect was still inside the home at 517 Post Road. According to Vision Appraisal, assessing company for the town of Greenland, 517 Post Road is owned by the Beverly P. Mutrie Revocable Trust. A Feb. 2, 2011, Portsmouth Herald story listed Cullen Mutrie, age 29, as a resident of the home.
New Hampshire Attorney General Mike Delaney confirmed in a 10 p.m. press conference that Maloney was killed and four others were wounded during a drug raid on Post Road. Delaney said the wounded officers are Detective Gregory Turner, 32, of the Dover Police Department; Detective Eric Kulberg, 31, of the UNH Police Department; Detective Scott Kukesh, 33, of the Newmarket Police Department; and Detective Jeremiah Murphy, 34, of the Rochester Police Department.
Kulberg had a gunshot wound to his arm and Turner suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Both men were treated and released from Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
Kukesh remained in the intensive care unit with a gunshot would to the chest and surgery was anticipated. Murphy had surgery in the ICU on Thursday night. Both men are expected to survive.
“I do want to extend my thoughts and prayers to the families and relatives and loved ones of the police officer who has been killed and the four police officers who have been injured, and I ask all of you to keep them in your prayers,” Delaney said.
Shortly after midnight, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said the situation at the residence was ongoing, but she would not confirm reports that the suspect may have fled the home and offered no other details on the investigation.
Young said the police chiefs of several departments have been inundated with phone calls and, out of respect for their emotional state, she requested all inquiries go to the Attorney General’s Office.
“This is a loss of family,” she said. “This is injuries to loved ones. They’re devastated and their focus is on their officers.”
Delaney said Thursday night that the next scheduled update would be at 6 a.m. today at Greenland Town Hall.
Gov. John Lynch went to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where the wounded officers were taken.
“This is a tragic incident,” he said, “and my thoughts and prayers are with the officers involved and their families.”
An officer at the shooting scene said that, as of 11 p.m., police were not certain of Mutrie’s whereabouts. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said the Post Road property was extensive, stretched toward Interstate 95 and included a deer stand. Police extended a half-mile perimeter around the home and were using at least one police K-9 unit and an infrared detector attached to a helicopter in an attempt to locate Mutrie if he was outside of the home.
The attorney general, however, at his press conference, said the armed subject and a female remained inside the home and that his office was working with federal, state and local law enforcement officers in an attempt to obtain a peaceful resolution. Law enforcement officials did not indicate whether the female was considered to be a hostage.
Delaney said law enforcement officers responded to 517 Post Road at about 6 p.m. to conduct a drug investigation at the home and they encountered an armed subject who fired rounds at the officers.
Tammy Sullivan, who lives near the suspect’s home, said she heard gunshots at about 6 p.m. and saw police officers run from the house. Ambulances arrived on the scene shortly after the shots were fired, but Sullivan said she continued to hear gunfire after they arrived. Sullivan said the gunshots sounded as if they were from an automatic weapon.
Police on the scene included at least those from Greenland, Portsmouth, New Castle, Exeter and state police as well as a SWAT unit. Police first responded after an emergency call announced an “officer-involved shooting” at about 6:30 p.m. A BearCat armored vehicle arrived on the scene at 7 p.m.
According to Portsmouth Herald archives, Cullen Mutrie has multiple arrests. According to a Feb. 2, 2011, story, Mutrie was arrested and charged with possession of anabolic steroids. Police alleged liquid and powder steroids were found in Mutrie’s home when officers went there to confiscate guns after Mutrie’s arrest on charges alleging domestic assault. According to a police affidavit, the steroids were found in Mutrie’s living room coffee table on July 24, 2010, but were not verified as steroids by the state crime lab until Jan. 18, 2011.
Jason MacKenzie, owner of Suds N’ Soda Sports on Route 33, said the incident leaves him shocked and upset. The Greenland native and lifelong resident said he was in a state of disbelief.
“I can’t believe there’s something in the house that’s worth killing someone for. Drugs, sure,” he said, “but I don’t think it’s worth taking a human life.”
Emergency communications at 7:15 p.m. reported the suspect as being a “very large ‘juiced’ guy, very muscular.” According to police reports, Mutrie is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 275 pounds.
Mutrie has a Facebook page, which states he was a 2000 graduate of Winnacunnet High School, studied paramedicine at Northern Essex Community College and worked at the fire department of Hampton Falls, which he lists as his hometown.
Laura Pantelakos first met Michael Maloney when he was a young cop in North Hampton and she was running Laura P’s restaurant in the town in 1990 or 1991. Not long after that Maloney met and married Pantelakos’ daughter, Charlene.
Pantelakos spent Thursday night in Portsmouth Regional Hospital with her grandchildren, Michael, 22, of Eliot, Maine and Serena, 28, of Rochester and was with them when they received the tragic news that their father had been shot and killed during a drug raid earlier that evening.
“The only thing I could tell the grandchildren last night was that their father was doing what he loved to do, that that’s the nature of the business he’s in and that’s how he lost his life. But that was no comfort to them.”
“They were devastated, in shock last night,” Pantelakos said. “They can’t believe their father is gone.”
Pantelakos’ daughter and Maloney divorced, and Maloney is now remarried to Peg Maloney, but Pantelakos said she never lost her affection for her former son-in-law. She said Maloney, a North Hampton native, had recently become a grandfather and 14-month “MJ” was the apple of his eye.
Pantelakos said she wasn’t surprised to see him taking on such a dangerous task just eight days before his retirement.
“He believed in doing away with the drugs out on the streets,” Pantelakos said. “He believed in keeping the streets safe. He didn’t ask for much.”
“Michael was very professional, courteous and kind. I saw him as a person who loved his kids and his new grandson. I saw him as a person who would put his life on the line for anyone.”
“He was a very good police officer,” Pantelakos said.
Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney with his new grandson "MJ". Photo from facebook.com
Remembering the fallen 
this is terrible