*Nickenley Turenne, courtesy of the Turenne family.*

The New Hampshire Collective Power Coalition brings together organizations and individuals rooted in BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and Disability justice movements. Our coalition exists to deepen solidarity, strengthen community care, and act collectively at the intersections of oppression and possibility.

We join Nickenley Turenne’s family, loved ones, and the broader community in ongoing grief following his killing by three Manchester police officers on December 6, 2025. This loss is devastating, irreparable, all too common—and it demands far more than condolences.

Nickenley’s death cannot be understood as an isolated incident. It reflects a persistent and well documented pattern of police violence that falls most heavily on Black people and unhoused community members, particularly those navigating overlapping racial and economic marginalization. For many Black and unhoused people, daily life is shaped by constant surveillance and criminalization rather than access to safety, housing, or sustained care. Encounters with police too often replace support systems that have been systematically stripped away.

Nationally and across New Hampshire, Black and unhoused individuals are disproportionately stopped, pursued, and harmed by law enforcement. These encounters are driven by assumptions based on race, ethnicity, and the routine criminalization of survival. Despite this reality, the majority of police-involved killings rarely result in charges or meaningful accountability. Investigations frequently move at a glacial pace, information is tightly controlled, and families are left waiting in anguish while institutions prioritize self-protection over truth.

We add our voices in demanding accountability, transparency, and justice, particularly for communities that have been historically denied all three. Public trust requires full disclosure. That means the timely release of all relevant information and materials, including body-worn camera footage, reports, and investigative findings. Withholding information, offering partial disclosures, or remaining silent does not preserve integrity; it compounds harm, retraumatizes families, and reinforces the pattern that shields law enforcement from scrutiny and true accountability.

---

Through the course of our advocacy, we have learned that New Hampshire follows a distinct process when investigating deaths involving police use of deadly force. Unlike other states, ours does not issue preliminary or interim reports. Information is released only once the investigation is complete, which can make the process feel slow or opaque but is intended to preserve the integrity of the case.

This investigation is being conducted by the NH Department of Justice’s Homicide Unit who are not only scrutinizing the moments leading up to the shooting, but also the hours, days, and months preceding the incident to understand the full context. This includes officer actions, decision-making, training, and available alternatives to lethal force.

The central legal question to be determined is whether the officers’ actions and intent were justified under New Hampshire law and the burden is on the state to disprove justification beyond a reasonable doubt for the use of deadly force. Consistent with current Manchester Police Department policy, we learned that the three officers involved have been allowed to return to active duty while the investigation is ongoing.

If the use of deadly force is found to be unjustified with the ability to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, homicide charges may be brought against the officers involved. If justification cannot be disproved, the Attorney General’s Office/Department of Justice will issue a detailed public report that will include the final autopsy findings, toxicology report, interviews with all officers involved, responding officers, and witnesses, as well as review of available body-worn camera footage, and other supporting materials. New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law (RSA 91-A) allows public access to records, though the Attorney General’s Office has chosen to limit the release of certain materials—such as body-worn camera footage—until the investigation concludes. All past and future reports can be found on the New Hampshire Department of Justice website – www.doj.nh.gov/resources.

---

We are concerned with the Manchester Police Department’s current policy allowing officers involved in a lethal event to return to full active duty during a pending investigation and believe it needs to be revisited. We continue to call on state and local officials to remain committed to a comprehensive and transparent investigation. This includes acknowledging the profound harm experienced by Nickenley’s family and by Black and unhoused communities who recognize their own vulnerability in this killing; and clearly articulating what steps are being taken to prevent future loss of life. We urge the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Justice to maintain open communication with Nickenley’s family, allow the family access to the body-worn camera footage and a full accounting of what happened that night. Accountability cannot be abstract, delayed, or performative. It must be concrete, timely, and thorough.

We reject narratives that criminalize Black life, punish poverty, and dehumanize unhoused people. Fear in the presence of police is not suspicious—it is a rational survival response shaped by generations of racial profiling, forced displacement, and unprovoked violence. Flight should never be treated as justification for violent escalation or lethal force. No perceived noncompliance and no expression of fear should end in death. We are tired of systems that excuse harm rather than interrogate power. Black and unhoused communities deserve safety rooted in dignity and care—not punishment, fear, or fatal force.

Standing with Nickenley Turenne’s family and the wider community, the NH Collective Power Coalition will continue to demand transparency, accountability, and systemic change -- to build a world where Black and unhoused lives are protected, valued, and free from fear.

Sincerely,

NH Center for Justice & Equity (NHCJE) - Manchester, NH
Anthony Poore, President & CEO
Claire Holston, Board Chair
Jo Porter
Grace Kindeke
MG Benjamin

Black Heritage Trail of NH (BHTNH) - Portsmouth, NH
Jerrianne Boggis, Executive Director

Black Lives Matter NH (BLMNH) - Dover, NH
Tanisha Johnson, Executive Director

Business Alliance for People of Color (BAPOC) - Dover, NH
Lionel Loveless, Vice Chair

The Racial Unity Team - Stratham, NH
Mark Whitney, Chair

American Friends Service Committee, NH Program (AFSCNH) - Concord, NH
Maggie Fogarty, Program Director
Ophelia Burnett, Healing Justice Program Associate

Black & African American (BAA) Caucus, NH Democratic Party
Melanie Levesque, Chair
Chris Roberge, Vice Chair
Honorable Charlotte DiLorenzo, Treasurer
Anthony Fosu, Secretary

Manchester Branch of the NAACP Unit #2069 - Manchester, NH
Arnold M. Mikolo, President

NH Black Women Health Project - Manchester, NH
Brenda Lett, Executive Director

Occupy NH Seacoast - Somersworth, NH
David Holt, Organizer

Queerlective - Manchester, NH
Randall Nielsen, Executive Director

Sanborn Diversity Solutions - Derry, NH
Rebecca Sanborn, JD

Upper Valley Equity & Anti-Racism Leadership Team (UVEAR) - Lebanon, NH
Ed Taylor, Co-Chair
Angy Zhang, Co-Chair
Anna Adachi-Mejia
Miranda Dupre
Bise Wood Saint Eugene
Julius Turner
Havah Walther

Councilor Catherine Workman
Keene, NH

Deborah Opramolla
Rindge, NH

Read the Op-ed version on the New Hampshire Bulletin:

Public Statement from the NH Collective Power Coalition on the Killing of Nickenley Turenne

NHCJE Release 2025 Annual Report Highlighting Growth, Community Impact, & Statewide Reach