Murder of Michael Briggs
The murder of Michael Briggs occurred on October 16, 2006, in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. Briggs, a police officer, was shot while on duty and was transported to the hospital, where he died of his injuries. The suspect, Michael "Stix" Addison, fled New Hampshire, prompting a manhunt by police. Fifteen hours after the shooting, Addison was arrested in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was charged by Boston Police with being a fugitive from justice. He waived domestic extradition and was transported back to New Hampshire.
Addison was transported to the Suffolk County Jail in Massachusetts where his bail was set at $2 million. New Hampshire prosecutors sought the death penalty for Michael Addison, since killing the police officer qualified the crime as a capital murder. There was ongoing debate about capital punishment in New Hampshire, which had not executed anyone since Howard Long in 1939.
A string of crimes that began a week earlier and culminated with the shooting of Officer Briggs on October 16, 2006, resulted in the arrest and questioning of two more people connected with Addison.
In March 2007, a trial date for Addison was set for early September 2008. This was the first trial for capital murder in the state since Gordon E. Perry was indicted for the capital murder of Officer Jeremy Charron in 1997. At the conclusion of the trial, Michael Addison was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Addison is the only person on death row in New Hampshire. The state supreme court upheld his conviction and sentence in 2014–2015. The US Supreme Court declined to hear his case. In 2025, the state Supreme Court agreed to revisit the sentence as the state legislature had revoked the death penalty for all future cases.
Background
Michael Briggs
Michael Briggs was born in Epsom, New Hampshire, and served in the United States Marines from 1991 to 1995 after graduating from Pembroke Academy in 1990. From 1995 to 2001 he worked as a correctional officer and a police officer for the Epsom Police Department. On May 2, 2001, his 30th birthday, Briggs became a police officer for the Manchester Police Department and was assigned as a bicycle police officer. Briggs graduated from the New Hampshire Police Academy in November 2001. In 2004, he received a life-saving medal after saving residents from a burning building. He was awarded the Congressional Law Enforcement Award in October 2005 for the same actions. Briggs was a member of the New Hampshire Police Association. Briggs was married and the father of two young sons. He was a friend and co-worker of Jeremy Charron, who was killed on duty in August 1997.In August 2019, Mitchell Briggs, son of Michael Briggs, graduated from the NH Police Academy 18 years after his father.
Michael K. Addison
Born in Boston on March 19, 1980, Michael Addison was adopted at age two by Rosetta Addison, his maternal grandmother, and her husband, Lucious Addison, a disabled Vietnam veteran. Lucious and Rosetta later divorced, and Rosetta reared her teenage children and "Little Michael" in what was described as a chaotic setting. He attended high school in Dorchester but did not graduate. At trial, the defense presented material about Addison's troubled upbringing: his time with his grandmother in Brockton, Massachusetts and also his time with his alcoholic mother in one of Boston's most violent and drug-ridden housing projects in the Roxbury neighborhood. The defense argued for life imprisonment without parole.At the time of the Briggs shooting, Michael "Stix" Addison was a Manchester, New Hampshire resident. There had been previous encounters between Officer Briggs and Michael Addison. In 2002, Addison was arrested by Briggs near the Queen City Bridge in Manchester. In March 2003, Addison received first aid from Briggs after a shooting incident, assistance which may have saved the young man's life. The shooter, Thomas Williams, was arrested on July 15, 2003, and pleaded guilty in March 2004. In October 2006, Williams was given a deal for a shortened sentence contingent upon his testifying for the prosecution in the Officer Briggs murder case.
In October 2003, Addison was arrested in Londonderry, New Hampshire, charged with false imprisonment, criminal restraint, prowling, and criminal threatening. Addison pleaded guilty to criminal restraint of Brian St. Peter in the dispute over drug money, a misdemeanor; he was sentenced to six months in the Rockingham County House of Corrections. The other charges were dropped in the plea deal. On August 6, 2004, Addison admitted to the fact that he had violated his Massachusetts probation by virtue of the false imprisonment.
The shooting
According to court records, Addison was convicted of participating with Antoine Bell-Rodgers in three separate felonies in the six days preceding the Briggs shooting.On October 16, 2006, Officer Michael Briggs and his partner Officer John Breckenridge were responding to a domestic disturbance call involving Addison and Antoine Bell-Rodgers. When both officers spotted the suspects, Briggs ordered them to stop. Bell-Rodgers stopped, but Addison continued walking away. When Officer Briggs instructed Addison to stop, Addison turned and shot Briggs before the officer could draw his weapon. Two other officers returned fire at Addison, who fled through an alleyway, dropping his handgun nearby. Bell-Rodgers surrendered to police but Addison fled the crime scene. Later, police found Addison's gun and T-shirt. In a court re-enactment, eyewitnesses claimed that moments before the shooting, they saw a dark gray van and two men jumping out of it and running north towards Lincoln Street where the shooting took place.
A manhunt was launched after the shooting. SWAT teams and local police searched throughout the city of Manchester looking for Addison. One SWAT team searched the apartment building where Addison's girlfriend, Angela Swist, lived and found clothing stained with blood in a bathtub and a bottle of bleach nearby. They questioned Swist about the items. Later, the police executed search warrants at two other apartment buildings, based on reports of Addison being seen there, where more evidence was found. Several schools were placed on lockdown as police and SWAT teams searched vehicles coming and going to work or school in the area.
Manchester Police Detectives learned during the investigation that Addison had fled with his other girlfriend to his grandfather's apartment in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Addison escaped from Manchester because the apartment he was hiding in was outside the Manchester SWAT Team's barricades. Manchester detectives provided the information to Boston Police Department's Anti-Crime Unit led by Boston Police Sergeant Gary Eblan, who ultimately located Addison hiding inside the apartment and took him into custody without incident after successful negotiations. Addison was held without bail.
Extradition and charges
After a brief hearing in Dorchester, Addison was turned over to Manchester Detectives and extradited to New Hampshire. During an interview shortly after Addison's arrest with Manchester Police Detectives, he denied any role in the murder of Briggs. During a taped interview, Addison told his story six different times before confessing to authorities that he shot at the police officers coming toward him. The Manchester Police Department, Det. Lt. Willard, sought a Capital Murder warrant for Addison, which the Manchester District Court signed, charging Addison with capital murder. Attorney General Kelly Ayotte sought the death penalty as murder of a police officer may be punishable by death under the state's capital punishment law. Later Addison was also charged with armed robbery, conspiracy and felony possession of a firearm in relation to a five-day crime spree that started a week before the homicide.Investigation and further arrests
Detective Lieutenant Nick Willard of the Manchester Police Department led the investigation into the murder of Officer Briggs, as well as the ancillary crimes, and established the following events.October 10, 2006
Antoine Bell-Rogers robs the owner of El Mexicano restaurant in Manchester at gunpoint, firing one shot into the ceiling and one into the floor between the owner's legs, while Michael K. Addison robs a customer at knifepoint of $300 and a cell phone.
October 11, 2006
Addison holds a female clerk at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Hudson at gunpoint while Bell-Rogers steals $280. During the investigation, his girlfriend Angela Swist and Teresia Shipley, another friend, turned themselves in to police after authorities issued warrants for their arrests. During an interview with police, Swist told officers that she drove Addison and Antoine Bell-Rodgers to the 7-Eleven on October 11, where Addison and his accomplice robbed the store and fled. She also admitted that she was the driver of the getaway car.
October 15, 2006
Addison and Bell-Rogers are involved in a gunfire incident on Edward J. Roy Drive in Manchester. Bell-Rogers, one of the men arrested at the scene of the October 16, 2006, shooting of Briggs, was later charged with firing a handgun at an apartment and felony possessing a firearm. He was not charged in connection with the shooting of officer Michael Briggs. A grand jury, however, charged Bell-Rogers with armed robbery and conspiracy for robbing a convenience store five days before the Briggs shooting. A bail of $50,000 was set in October 2006 and was upheld in January 2007. On March 5, 2007, Bell-Rodgers asked the court to have his felony charges dropped.
On March 28, 2007, the Hillsborough County Superior Court re-indicted Bell-Rogers on the weapons charges after a defense lawyer tried to dismiss Bell-Rogers' original indictment. That same day, Teresia Shipley pleaded guilty on charges of helping Addison rob a convenience store days before the shooting of Briggs.
After a number of charges were resolved either through conviction or plea, Antoine Bell-Rogers was sentenced to 60½ years in prison.