Neighbor fired 3 shots after argument with resident of new Nashua homeless encampment

NASHUA, NH — A city man is being held without bail after he “popped three rounds off into the ground” in an argument Wednesday night with a woman who was temporarily relocated to the city’s new homeless encampment on Crown Street, according to court documents.

John J. Smith Jr., 31, of 5 Chase St., Apt. 1, is being held in preventative detention in the Valley Street jail in Manchester on charges of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, three counts; criminal threatening with a deadly weapon, and falsifying physical evidence.

At his arraignment Friday in Hillsborough County Superior Court South, defense attorneys said Smith fired “warning shots” and said the woman, identified as Katherine Bathrick, 35, in court documents, said she would come back with friends.

Prosecutors argued Smith escalated the situation when he fired a gun instead of calling police.

According to the affidavit of Detective Matthew Friend, on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, at 7:45 p.m., police were called to the area of Crown and Chase streets for a report of a woman being shot at in the area of 25 Crown St.

Officers arriving on scene found three shell casings in the dirt parking lot between the railroad tracks and Chase Street.   Friends spoke with Bathrick, the alleged victim, who lives at the new homeless encampment at the end of the Crown Street Park & Ride.    She said since she moved there, area residents have been cutting residents’ tents and throwing their belongings in nearby portable restrooms.

On Wednesday night, she was returning to the encampment after making purchases at the East Hollis Street Variety Store when she noticed her shoe was untied.  Bathrick stopped on the dirt path that runs along the side of the railroad tracks to retie her shoe. When she looked up, she saw a man with a cell phone standing on Crown Street near the entrance to the Park & Ride.  Bathrick told investigators she assumed the man was one of the many residents in the area upset about the new homeless encampment.

The homeless encampment is a temporary site while crews clear brush along the rails.

Bathrick said she continued walking on the path but stopped near a boulder to retie her shoe again. The same man was ahead of her, his back turned towards her.  He turned around and said, “This is private property.  Get the fuck out of here.”  Bathrick told the man she believed the property was owned by the railroad company and asked if he was a railroad employee. “Get the fuck out of her you fucking junkie,” the man replied.

Bathrick, in turn, told him she would leave after she tied her shoe and said she was not a junkie.  They continued to argue for a time with the man continuing to call her a “junkie” and Bathrick eventually calling him a “fat piece of shit.”    At some point during the argument, the man’s girlfriend came out of their residence and tried to usher him back inside telling him, “babe…babe…come on…let’s go…let’s go…she’s not even on the property.”

Bathrick said she turned away to continue walking back to her tent when she heard a gunshot from behind her.  She turned around and saw the man pointing a black handgun at her.  The man said, “okay…bet…you like that,” before firing two more rounds.  Bathrick told investigators before he fired the other two rounds she had already turned and was running away from him.  She believed some of the shots were fired up or away from her; however, she believes one was definitely fired towards her because it had a distinct sound that she described as “it came through me,” which was different form the other two gunshots.  She said the man’s girlfriend was standing by him when he fired the gun.

Bathrick ran from the area until she reached the homeless encampment and called 911.

Investigators, with accounts provided by witnesses who heard and/or saw the two arguing and heard the gunshots, along with Bathrick’s description of the man she encountered, determined the alleged shooter was Smith.

Erica Pembroke, Smith’s girlfriend, told police Smith was outside arguing with “those people” from the new homeless encampment. She said he was upset because he thought one of “those people” was on private property.  At the time, he was holding a black handgun. At some point during the argument, she said she hear a gunshot go off and attempted to get Smith to come back into their residence.

Smith, in speaking with detectives, expressed his frustration with the residents of the new homeless encampment.  He said Wednesday night he encountered a woman from the encampment near his property.  He said he told her to leave and go back to the encampment but an argument ensued, resulting in the woman telling him she would come back with friends.

Smith said he then “popped three rounds off into the ground” and told her he would be “here” if she and her friends came back.  He said what he did was “stupid” and he knew it after the fact.  He conceded he fired the rounds to scare the woman but maintained he never pointed the gun at her.

Smith has “Night Owl” brand video cameras affixed to the exterior of his first floor.  Previously, he had allowed police access to them in another investigation.

Smith told investigators his video surveillance captured Wednesday’s incident but that he immediately deleted the footage from the hard drive because “I didn’t want to get myself in trouble.”

However, he showed Detective Friend a video clip he took of the now-deleted video footage, which showed a portion of the incident.  In that video, Friends wrote that an argument could be heard, Pembroke is also heard trying to get Smith to stop and then gunshots.

Police recovered the gun, a .9mm Ruger SRC9 in a nightstand in Smith’s apartment.

Investigators also checked Bathrick’s criminal history which showed she has a history of filing false reports to law enforcement.  She was convicted of that offense on Oct. 21, 2019.