Feds investigate shooting at New Hampshire-Canada border crossing; suspect hospitalized
Feb 23, 2026, 12:16 PM
FILE - An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a shooting near the country’s northern border in New Hampshire in which a person is accused of firing a gun at a border patrol agent, who returned fire and struck the subject.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said the incident occurred at about 1 a.m. Sunday morning in Pittsburg, a town of about 800 people at the border with Canada. The FBI did not provide a name of the accused shooter, but said the person is now receiving medical attention at a nearby hospital.
The border patrol agent, who the FBI also did not name, was unharmed in the incident, an agency spokesperson said. The shooting happened in a rural community that is home to the state’s sole border crossing with the Canadian province of Quebec.
The incident took place near the port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said. The FBI’s Boston field office will be investigating the shooting along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of New Hampshire, authorities said.
“Initial reports indicate that the subject opened fire on the agent at which time the agent returned fire,” Scott said in a statement. “CBP is cooperating fully with investigators.”
Officials with the FBI, CBP and U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to provide more detail on the accused shooter or the circumstances that led to the exchange of gunfire. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement that information would be released if charges are brought against the person.
Pittsburg is the northernmost town in New Hampshire. It is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) north of the state capital of Concord. The town also borders Maine and Vermont as well as Canada.
The shooting took place near a usually quiet crossing in the only town in New Hampshire that borders Canada. That international border stretches for close to 60 miles (97 kilometers). A report issued by the New Hampshire Department of Safety last month said that state, county and local police agencies reported a total of six arrests within 25 miles of the border in the six months from July to December 2025.
Police in Pittsburg’s small police department confirmed there was a shooting at the border and said the FBI was taking the lead. The police department has received questions about the immigration status of the person involved in the shooting but doesn’t have that information, said Captain John LeBlanc.
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Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.
