Police fatally shoot man on major bridge, find dead child in car

Police found the body of an 8-year-old child in the car of a man who was shot dead by officers on Thursday morning on the Piscataqua River Bridge, which connects New Hampshire and Maine on Interstate 95.

The man is suspected of killing his wife, whose body was found in their New Hampshire home, according to local officials.

Officers found the body of the child, who had been fatally shot, in the backseat of the man's car after three officers fired on him, knocking him off the bridge, Maine State Police Col. William Ross said at a news briefing on Thursday afternoon.

In a 911 call just after 2 a.m., the man told operators his wife was dead after the two had a fight, Ross said. Responding officers found the woman's body in their residence in Troy, around 100 miles west of the bridge.

Less than an hour later, officers spotted his car in the middle of the bridge. Attempts to negotiate with him "were ultimately unsuccessful," according to Ross.

Ross said the three officers opened fire at the man after he got out of his car and raised a gun. The man fell from the bridge, and Coast Guard officials later pulled his body from the water.

"The child's death is not associated with the police officers' use of deadly force," Ross said.

Authorities will not release the identities of the deceased until a medical examiner formally identifies the suspect and next of kin are notified, Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for Maine State Police, told the Portsmouth Herald, part of the USA TODAY Network .

The three officers who opened fire on the man, including a Maine state trooper and two New Hampshire state troopers, have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Maine Attorney General, Ross said.

An investigation by Maine State Police and New Hampshire State Police into the deaths of the woman and child and ongoing, Ross added.

The shooting prompted officials to briefly close both directions of traffic on Interstate 95 over the bridge on Thursday morning before it was reopened just before 10 a.m., according to New England 511 . The bridge, around 60 miles north of Boston, connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine.

Drivers were diverted to two local bridges, the Memorial Bridge and Sarah Long Bridge, causing traffic snarls, the Herald reported. The Kittery Town Hall delayed its morning opening as a result.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police fatally shoot man on major bridge, find dead child in car