The Day Evil Visited Conway, New Hampshire

04.07.07 - By Ted Sares: I tried to sit down tonight to write a piece, but I jus couldn’t concentrate. Yesterday, something very evil visited the small resort town in which I live. It was a clear, sunny and beautiful day when the visit came. It was about 9:30 a.m. on a Monday when the shooter apparently entered a retail store in this town known for retail stores and outlets, and also for scenic mountains and forests. People ski and hike here; they don’t kill other people here..

No one really knows what happened except the shooter. Maybe it was a botched robbery or maybe there was a story behind the story, but that will all come out later.

As helicopters hovered overhead and street were blocked off, gossip abounded. But in retrospect, the gossip was pretty accurate. A young man wearing fatigue shorts, a baseball cap and a back pack entered a store and all hell ensued.

After the smoke had cleared, three innocent men, including the popular store manager, were dead. Two young men from Massachusetts appear to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. All were shot in the head multiple times, some say with a 22 caliber hand gun. All were some mother’s son; maybe someone’s brother; maybe someone’s father. None woke up Monday morning expecting to see evil incarnate. None ever saw Tuesday. None expected to die.

About 24 hours after this horrific incident, a male matching the description put out by police following the shootings was apprehended in nearby Maine, about five miles away. The suspect was identified late Tuesday afternoon as being from that state and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Allegedly, he has a rap sheet and outstanding warrants.

We drove by the store tonight and there is still a lot of blood at the scene. Flowers are being put down at the spot of the shooting. The yellow tape has been removed.

There are many, many unanswered questions, of course, but hopefully the answers will emerge during the next several months as the slow process of justice unfolds. Still, things will never be quite the same. Call it innocence lost; call it bad juju; call it the day evil paid a visit to Conway, New Hampshire. Whatever it was, it makes writing a boxing article less important. Hell, it makes just about everything less important.