SALEM, N.H. — A homicide investigation is underway after the body of a Massachusetts teenager was found outside a Salem home early Friday.
Officials identified the victim as Wichai Saksene, 15, of Massachusetts. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner completed an autopsy Friday and determined that Saksene died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Authorities said the exact circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under active investigation, referring to the incident as a “suspicious death” in a previous statement.
The teen was discovered just outside a home on Orchard Terrace on Friday morning. The Attorney General’s Office, members of the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit and the Salem Police Department responded to the scene.
That morning, several police cruisers lined the road as many local and state police were gathered around a residence that appeared to be on Summit Terrace, which connects to Orchard Terrace. Vehicles were positioned to block the roadway along with yellow caution tape surrounding the home, extending into neighboring backyards.
Residents throughout the neighborhood were drawn to the incident, with many standing in their front lawns or driveways watching police activity. Several of the neighbors said they had been awake since the early morning hours.
Before his name was disclosed, neighbor Michael Brantmuller said he was not certain of the teenager’s identity, but believed it may have been a youth who frequently visited family members living at the residence in the summertime.
“If it was the kid I think it is, it’s tragic,” Brantmuller said. “He seemed like a really nice kid.”
Brantmuller’s wife, Dawn, broke out in tears while discussing the possibility that the victim was the teenager she remembered from previous summers.
“I’m so upset because if it’s the child that I think it was,” she said. “He was such a good kid.”
She added that the teenager was friendly with many residents in the area, often washing and detailing cars of neighbors.
Another neighbor, John Feliciano, said he was awakened at about 1:15 a.m. by a loud noise.
“It almost sounded like cracking of a branch, but I knew it wasn’t,” Felicano said, adding that the noise was similar to a gunshot.
Feliciano said he heard what he described as muffled sounds coming from the home before hearing a woman repeatedly screaming outside.
“She was screaming, ‘My son, my son,’” he said.
Additional information is set to be released as it becomes available, according to a statement from Attorney General John Formella, New Hampshire State Police Col. Mark Hall and Salem Police Chief Joel Dolan.