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Bad Blood in Franconia
I haven’t posted recently, and for that I apologize.
I was out of town Saturday morning a week ago when I learned that a young guy I’ve known since he was little boy shot a police officer to death a couple miles from my house. Soon after, a passer-by stopped and shot Liko to death with Cpl. McKay’s service revolver. This was Gregory Floyd, a reclusive felon with a penchant for rotweillers, automatic weapons, and kicking state cops in the balls (for which he received a 3-year suspended sentence).
All in all, it was blood-stained and pointless moment. I and the 923 other people who live in Franconia, New Hampshire have thought of little else since.
His name was Liko – “Little Bud” in Hawaiian. His folks, Davey and Mishell Kenney, own a coffee plantation on the island of Oahu, where Liko was conceived. My earliest memory of him was when he was 7-years old. We were at a Seabrook anti-nuke demonstration and he cajoled the couple on the blanket next to us to carve up their watermelon and pass it around. Liko never lost that naïve sweetness; he was a loyal friend, a good-hearted soul, and a wild kid. But in a good way, mostly. He’d had run-ins with the law, little use for authority, and over the past four years became embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the man he shot four times.
That man was Cpl. Bruce McKay – 2nd in command at, and a 12-year veteran of, the Franconia Police Department. He was also the local prosecutor. Cpl. McKay left behind his 10-year old daughter Courtney, and his fiancée Sharon who he was to marry in July. His five co-workers on the FPD praised his hard work and dedication to the job.
So, a sad and ugly story all around. Liko and Cpl. McKay had a history – several arrests, some involving physical altercations, resulting in a truckload of personal animosity toward one another. Bad blood. If they’d never crossed paths, they both would have lived longer and happier lives.
I didn’t know Cpl. McKay. I had one interaction with him during which he was competent and fair. But others people in town will tell you different. There are formal complaints on file against him for excessive force and violence (now sealed) and enough anecdotal evidence (a national reporter told me, “Everyone I talk to has something negative to say about this guy.”) to raise a suspicion that the events of Friday last might have been avoided.
From reports by people who had seen Liko earlier in the day, including the testimony of Caleb MacCauley, his passenger in the car at the time of the shooting and the only living witness to these events, Liko was upbeat, happy about his new job at Agway, and planning to open a chicken farm next year. MacCauley’s statement was deemed inadmissible by Attorney General Kelly Ayotte because he’d been pepper gassed.
It’s an old story: Kid shoots cop, end of story. But it’s not that simple this time. And the truth will come out.
~Jack McEnany
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