Family of 3 killed in series of shootings that ended on Maine bridge identified

KITTERY, Maine (AP) — Authorities released autopsy results Friday for three bodies recovered from a home, a car’s back seat and a river between New Hampshire and Maine, identifying a man accused of fatally shooting his wife and their 8-year-old son before being shot to death by police.

Police identified the family of three as Brittany and Trent Weston, both 37, and their son, Benson. Officials said the mother and son died from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by Trent Weston, who was shot multiple times by troopers during a standoff on a bridge and fell 100 feet (30 meters) into the water below.

The Westons had recently moved into a duplex in Troy, New Hampshire, where Brittany Weston’s body was discovered early Thursday after her husband called 911 to report that they’d argued and that she was dead. The boy’s body was found in Trent Weston’s car parked about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away on the Interstate 95 bridge between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine.

After failed attempts to negotiate, two New Hampshire troopers and a Maine trooper fired their weapons after Trent Weston got out of the car and raised a weapon, officials said. The Coast Guard recovered his body from the Piscataqua River.

Police said Friday they hadn’t determined a motive for the violence. Investigations were continuing in Maine and New Hampshire.

The bridge was closed for about seven hours before reopening. Between 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles use the Piscataqua bridge each day, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.