City man accused in Elm Street stabbing remains free on bail

MANCHESTER, NH – A Superior Court judge denied a prosecutor’s request that bail be revoked for Kyle Jacob Bisson, the city man accused of stabbing another man nine times outside an Elm Street market.

Judge Michael Klass, presiding in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District on Wednesday said the state did not meet its burden required to revoke the personal recognizance bail for Bisson, 25, of 539 Rimmon St.  Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Patrick Ives argued that Bisson poses a danger to the public.

“I wish it were your son,” Roxanne Perry, mother of victim Michael Perry, 42, of Manchester, yelled out at the judge after he refused to revoke Bisson’s bail.

Outside the courtroom, she continued to yell saying, “I’m pissed.  I’m pissed.”

Hillsborough County Attorney John Coughlin, who attended the hearing, declined to comment on the ruling.  Public Defender Tom Stonitsch also declined comment.

Bisson, 25, of 539 Rimmon St., is charged with second-degree assault and two counts of falsifying physical evidence, for tossing a pocket knife down a storm drain and throwing his red puffy jacket into a dumpster.

During the hearing, Ives played video footage of the incident recorded by security cameras at Bunny’s Convenience, 947 Elm St.  The judge, who reviewed the video a second time in his chambers before issuing his decision, said the video was “telling and helpful,” and shows what was described in the police affidavit filed in support of Bisson’s arrest.

However, he noted that Perry was the one who started the fight when he punched Bisson in the head.

This is the third time that a court official has issued a ruling concerning bail for Bisson. Judge magistrate Stephanie Johnson originally released Bisson on personal recognizance bail.  Days later, when the case was heard in 9^th Circuit – District Division – Manchester, police did not ask for Bisson’s bail to be revoked and so the personal recognizance bail remained in place.

It was only after the issue was made public by police and there was a public outcry by elected officials, including Mayor Jay Ruais, Executive Councilor John Stephen and Gov. Kelly Ayotte, that prosecutors moved to revoke Bisson’s bail.

The stabbing happened just before 7 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2025, outside Bunny’s Convenience Store, 947 Elm St. Bisson told police he was acting in self-defense after the other man punched him in the face and tackled him to the ground.

Bisson, who suffered a stab wound to the chest in the altercation, said he thought he was going to be “beaten to a pulp.”  Police theorized that Bisson’s own knife caused the injury.

During the altercation, Bisson told Perry he had a knife and Perry responded that he had one too, although he later told police he didn’t have one and only said that to scare off Bisson.

Stonitsch said if Perry had a knife, he could have been charged with felonious use of a deadly weapon given his criminal history.

Bisson, too, has a criminal history but no felony convictions.  He was convicted of criminal threatening and reckless conduct, both class A misdemeanors, and has a history of domestic violence, according to Ives.

The physical fight lasted 12 seconds.

The seven-minute video played for the judge shows Bisson, wearing a red jacket, walking by Perry, who is standing outside Bunny’s talking to a man who is sitting on the ground.  There is no audio but Bisson and Perry appear to exchange words.  Five times, Bisson briefly walks away but comes back to resume the argument.

Bisson told police as he walked away, Perry called him a racial slur for a Black man.  For the fifth and final time, Bisson walked back to confront Perry.  Bisson appears to drop something and as he turns, looking down, Perry jumps him, hitting him in the face and knocking him to the ground.  The two men tussle on the ground and then both stand up.

During the fight, Bisson suffered a stab wound to the chest and Perry suffered four stab wounds.

Perry said he told Bisson no more but, Ives said, Bisson chased after Perry swinging the knife and inflicting four to five more wounds.

Perry suffered 8 to 9 stab wounds, according to investigators.

Stonitsch told the judge Perry was trying to “knock my client unconscious.”  He was “pummeling him,” he said.  The only time Perry backed away, he said, was when Bisson “is finally able to defend himself.”  That, he said, is when Perry says he can’t take anymore.

Perry was transported to the Elliot Hospital for emergency treatment.

According to court documents, as police began searching for the assailant, Bisson called 911 to say he had been stabbed in the chest and was on the Bridge Street Bridge.

While being treated on the scene, Bisson told officers the injury was from the “guy on Elm Street” and that he had discarded the knife in a storm drain.  Bisson also was taken to the Elliot for treatment.

Perry, interviewed by police at the hospital, said when Bisson came back, he pulled out the knife for a second time so Perry “went into ‘combat mode’ because he was scared at that point.”  He punched Bisson in the head in an attempt to knock him unconscious to prevent Bisson from stabbing him.

After he punched Bisson, he said Bisson attempted to take out a pocket knife out but dropped it in a snowbank.  Perry used the opportunity to again try to knock out Bisson and disarm him.

Bisson, however, grabbed the knife and began stabbing him.  Perry said after being stabbed about three times, he told Bisson he was done and told him to stop.  Bisson, he said, continued to stab him, even though Perry was walking away.

Bisson told police the incident began when Perry was blocking most of the sidewalk while talking to a homeless man.  Bisson told him to watch out because people were walking there.  Perry, Bisson told the detective, became angry and told him to shut the fuck up.  Perry started cursing at him so Bisson “flipped the switch” and said if you want to fight, we can fight.

Perry lunged at him, to try to intimidate him, Bisson said, but he wasn’t scared of him.  Bisson became angry after Perry did that a few times.  He said he warned Perry he had a knife and said to let it go.  Perry said he had a knife, too.

Bisson said he crossed Amherst Street and was walking away when M.P. called him the “N” word.  Bisson turned back, approached M.P. and told him if he wanted to “throw hands, we can throw hands.”  Perry then punched him in the face, dazing him, and making Bisson think “he was about to get beaten to a pulp.”

Bisson said he was holding the folding knife in his right pocket and when Perry went to hit him, he tried to put his hands up to defend himself and dropped the knife.  He went to pick it up and Perry jumped on top of him.

Bisson said he was on his back trying to flip the knife blade out when he stabbed Perry three times in the stomach and ribs.    He said he then got up and Perry said stop repeatedly with his hands up.    Bisson said M.P. stayed at Bunny’s and he went north up Nutfield Lane where he dumped the knife into a drain.  He later threw his jacket into the dumpster. He had no explanation for why he threw the items away other than “because he didn’t know what to do” and he “was scared.”

Bisson only realized he suffered a stab wound to the chest when he was walking across the Bridge Street Bridge.  He was unsure how he was stabbed.  He said Perry never had the knife and said it was possible the wound was self-inflicted in the scuffle.