NASHUA, N.H. — A gunman opened fire at a New Hampshire country club during a wedding on Saturday, resulting in the death of one person and injuring two others, officials reported.

The victim who died at the Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua was a 59-year-old man named Robert Steven DeCesare, according to New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Nashua Police Chief Kevin Rourke.

Authorities have identified the suspect as 23-year-old Hunter Nadeau. He has been arrested and is facing a second-degree murder charge for knowingly shooting DeCesare.

“Additional charges are likely to be filed, including those related to the other shooting victims,” Formella and Rourke mentioned in a statement. They anticipate that Nadeau will be arraigned at the Ninth Circuit Court in Nashua on Monday.

Initially, authorities believed there might have been two shooters, but later confirmed it was just one. Police assured that there was no ongoing threat to the public.

Investigators were still working to determine a motive, New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley said.

Information on the wounded victims’ conditions was not immediately available.

Tom Bartelson from Pepperell, Massachusetts, who was at the country club, described the chaotic scene near his nephew’s wedding. He recounted hearing the shooter say “the children are safe” and “free Palestine,” and said the shooter seemed to have a specific target in mind.

“Getting together for a dance for the bride and groom and then all chaos went off,” he said. “We heard about six shots and everybody ducked for cover and next thing you know we’re rushed into safe spots and things like that.”

He said some people dropped to the ground and attempted to get away from the scene. There was a lot of panic, he said.

“We were trying to keep family members safe,” he said. “Keep everybody down and try to find safe spots.”

The mother of DeCesare, the man who was killed, had earlier described not being able to find her son after he was shot.

“He went down. My daughter in law and granddaughter escaped … They saw my son go down and they saw blood,” the mother, Evie O’Rourke of Salem, New Hampshire, said.

Emily Ernst, who was at the scene, said she saw a gunman in all black.

“He had a mask on. We just saw him raise the gun and then we ran,” Ernst said. “I ran through the kitchen for my life.”

Aerial video from WMUR-TV showed multiple emergency responders heading to the scene. Later, Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess said he had faith in police to “get to the bottom of this and bring the perpetrator to justice.”

He added: “I think the message is for every community out there is that no matter how unlikely it seems it can happen where you live.”

U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander said in a statement that she was “closely monitoring the tragic reports of a shooting tonight at Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua” and that her heart was with the victims, their families and the community.

Nashua is about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northwest of Boston, just across the Massachusetts border.
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Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.