'We Will Never Forget'

Editor's note: This is the final story in a five-day series reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the Greenland police shootings.

GREENLAND, NH – "At approximately 6 o'clock this evening, law enforcement officers responded to 517 Post Road and they were conducting a drug investigation..."

So began the somber news conference in Greenland on April 12, 2012. New Hampshire Attorney General Michael A. Delaney took a breath before offering some rough details of an otherwise benign drug warrant that everyone soon knew went horribly wrong.

Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney, 48, who was a week away from retirement, was shot and killed. Four other officers were shot and injured.

In the aftermath, and still today: heartache.

There were the words measuring the loss – from Delaney, then Gov. John Lynch, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and many others. There were questions. What happened? Why? Some of the questions will never be answered, at least not to the satisfaction of everyone involved. But this Seacoast community of roughly 3,500 – served by a town police force of a dozen souls – promises never to forget.

Greenland will recognize the one-year anniversary of the shootings at 5 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2013, with a moment of silence to remember Chief Maloney.

A talent show at Greenland Central School, at 6 p.m., will help raise money to send Greenland police officers to the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C., for events in May.

In 2012, there were 362 names added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

More names will be added this year, including that of a small town police chief whose absence continues to be felt by the community at large.

STORIES IN PATCH'S GREENLAND SERIES:

 – April 8, 2013

 – April 9, 2013

 – April 10, 2013

Home Where Shootings Occurred Remains in Limbo – April 11, 2013

'We Will Never Forget'  – April 12, 2013