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Dead hunter's wife says shooter should never be allowed to hunt again
By PAULA TRACY
Union Leader Staff
CONCORD - The wife of an Epsom man shot and killed by a fellow hunter says Steven R. Laro should never hunt again.
"I don't want him to hurt anyone else," Susan Proulx said of the Concord man who said he mistook Robert H. Proulx for a wild boar at the exclusive game preserve in Croydon, where the two were guests on Jan. 3, 2004.
Susan Proulx said her husband's silver hair and silver mustache could not be mistaken for that of a boar by any hunter who was taking a safe shot, and had identified his target.
"Hunting is not a right, it is a privilege," she said during an interview in her attorney's office last week in Manchester.
Were that privilege exercised with due caution, she argued, her husband of 22 years would be there to fix the snow blower and capture the eight flying squirrels she netted running about her house last week. Now, she said, she is alone.
"He was my family," she said.
Proulx, 58, owned Wildlife Taxidermy in Manchester. It was there Laro bought the Winchester semiautomatic rifle that killed Proulx, as well as his last archery license in 2003. The two had met through fellow hunter Roger Williams, a member of Corbin Park.
Susan Proulx has filed a civil wrongful death claim against Laro in Merrimack County Superior Court, alleging he took her husband's life negligently when he raised the rifle, looked down the scope and fired.
A jury acquitted Laro, 49, of criminal charges, including negligent homicide, last December.
"It's a slap in the face to all sportsmen," she said.
Her attorney and long-time family friend, Jason Craven, said no one believes that Laro intentionally shot Proulx but that he was "bound and determined to impress" the hunting party.
Susan Proulx said she has been a hunter since 1973 and often hunted in Corbin Park. She was not invited that fatal January day because it was the "gentlemen's hunt" when a member's quota could be filled at the end of the season; anyone could take a boar if they were able to get one, she said.
When her phone rang about 10 a.m., she recalled thinking it was her husband calling to say what he had shot.
"But it was Roger calling to say Bob was dead. . . .," she said.
After the criminal trial, Craven wrote Fish and Game Executive Director Lee Perry on behalf of Susan Proulx and asked that the state deny Laro the privilege to hunt.
In a Feb. 3 letter to Laro, Perry wrote the state is considering revoking his license, stating the department determined "you were directly responsible for shooting and causing the death of Robert H. Proulx. . . ."
The former Franklin police officer will either submit his lifetime hunting license to the state by March 16 or face a public hearing of the Fish and Game Commission that could strip him of that privilege.
Even if he decided not to attend the hearing, Perry said, the hearing would go forward.
By statute, someone who kills another while hunting immediately loses his license to hunt upon indictment and must petition the Fish and Game director after 10 years if he wants it back. But the law also states that the person must be "convicted" of that act.
After Laro's acquittal, Fish and Game Col. Jeffrey Gray said he believed another law allows the director to take away a person's hunting license for cause.
He cited RSA 214:18, which reads in part: "the director may order the suspension of the license of any person in his discretion and without hearing, and may order the license delivered to him or his representative whenever he has reason to believe that the holder thereof is physically or mentally an improper or incompetent person to carry firearms, or is handling firearms improperly or so as to endanger human life or property, or for any other cause that he may deem sufficient. . . ."
Laro told investigators he was not prepared to fire when he spotted a wild boar at the private game preserve Jan. 3, 2004.
"I saw a boar," Laro told investigators in a tape played for the jury from a Jan. 7, 2004, interrogation. "I wasn't set up. . . . I took my rifle off my shoulder and tried to get my finger out of my glove," he said.
Laro is a former military police officer, a decorated marksman and FBI-certified firearms instructor and an experienced hunter. He was hunting with a scope set on a magnification of five in foggy, rainy conditions, with Proulx 72 yards away.
The New Hampshire Sportsperson License Report shows that Laro was sold a lifetime license combination on Jan. 4, 2001. In 2003, he also held a resident archery license, a muzzleloader permit, turkey permit and a special archery permit.
Laro is a stay-at-home father now. He has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached last week through his civil attorney, Richard Mitchell of Nashua.
Susan Proulx said her husband knew Corbin Park "like the back of his hand" and the only one in the hunting party who did not seem to know his way around was Laro.
"He'd been going there for 25 years. It is an extremely safe place to hunt," she said. Susan Proulx said she has great memories of times hunting in Corbin Park with her husband, noting he shot his first elk there in the 1980s.
"Corbin was like a paradise for Bob and (me). It was one of the most precious places. We worked hard and looked forward to going there. It was beautiful and safe."
The 24,000-acre enclosed shooting preserve, founded in 1890, has a very limited membership. The park features a barn and a lodge as well as stocked ponds and brooks. It is licensed as a regulated shooting area for boar, elk and deer.
Proulx said she obeys the first rule to always identify a target before shooting. She expects other hunters to do the same.
"I don't want this to ever happen to another hunter," she said.
Dead hunter's wife says shooter should never be allowed to hunt again
By PAULA TRACY
Union Leader Staff
CONCORD - The wife of an Epsom man shot and killed by a fellow hunter says Steven R. Laro should never hunt again.
"I don't want him to hurt anyone else," Susan Proulx said of the Concord man who said he mistook Robert H. Proulx for a wild boar at the exclusive game preserve in Croydon, where the two were guests on Jan. 3, 2004.
Susan Proulx said her husband's silver hair and silver mustache could not be mistaken for that of a boar by any hunter who was taking a safe shot, and had identified his target.
"Hunting is not a right, it is a privilege," she said during an interview in her attorney's office last week in Manchester.
Were that privilege exercised with due caution, she argued, her husband of 22 years would be there to fix the snow blower and capture the eight flying squirrels she netted running about her house last week. Now, she said, she is alone.
"He was my family," she said.
Proulx, 58, owned Wildlife Taxidermy in Manchester. It was there Laro bought the Winchester semiautomatic rifle that killed Proulx, as well as his last archery license in 2003. The two had met through fellow hunter Roger Williams, a member of Corbin Park.
Susan Proulx has filed a civil wrongful death claim against Laro in Merrimack County Superior Court, alleging he took her husband's life negligently when he raised the rifle, looked down the scope and fired.
A jury acquitted Laro, 49, of criminal charges, including negligent homicide, last December.
"It's a slap in the face to all sportsmen," she said.
Her attorney and long-time family friend, Jason Craven, said no one believes that Laro intentionally shot Proulx but that he was "bound and determined to impress" the hunting party.
Susan Proulx said she has been a hunter since 1973 and often hunted in Corbin Park. She was not invited that fatal January day because it was the "gentlemen's hunt" when a member's quota could be filled at the end of the season; anyone could take a boar if they were able to get one, she said.
When her phone rang about 10 a.m., she recalled thinking it was her husband calling to say what he had shot.
"But it was Roger calling to say Bob was dead. . . .," she said.
After the criminal trial, Craven wrote Fish and Game Executive Director Lee Perry on behalf of Susan Proulx and asked that the state deny Laro the privilege to hunt.
In a Feb. 3 letter to Laro, Perry wrote the state is considering revoking his license, stating the department determined "you were directly responsible for shooting and causing the death of Robert H. Proulx. . . ."
The former Franklin police officer will either submit his lifetime hunting license to the state by March 16 or face a public hearing of the Fish and Game Commission that could strip him of that privilege.
Even if he decided not to attend the hearing, Perry said, the hearing would go forward.
By statute, someone who kills another while hunting immediately loses his license to hunt upon indictment and must petition the Fish and Game director after 10 years if he wants it back. But the law also states that the person must be "convicted" of that act.
After Laro's acquittal, Fish and Game Col. Jeffrey Gray said he believed another law allows the director to take away a person's hunting license for cause.
He cited RSA 214:18, which reads in part: "the director may order the suspension of the license of any person in his discretion and without hearing, and may order the license delivered to him or his representative whenever he has reason to believe that the holder thereof is physically or mentally an improper or incompetent person to carry firearms, or is handling firearms improperly or so as to endanger human life or property, or for any other cause that he may deem sufficient. . . ."
Laro told investigators he was not prepared to fire when he spotted a wild boar at the private game preserve Jan. 3, 2004.
"I saw a boar," Laro told investigators in a tape played for the jury from a Jan. 7, 2004, interrogation. "I wasn't set up. . . . I took my rifle off my shoulder and tried to get my finger out of my glove," he said.
Laro is a former military police officer, a decorated marksman and FBI-certified firearms instructor and an experienced hunter. He was hunting with a scope set on a magnification of five in foggy, rainy conditions, with Proulx 72 yards away.
The New Hampshire Sportsperson License Report shows that Laro was sold a lifetime license combination on Jan. 4, 2001. In 2003, he also held a resident archery license, a muzzleloader permit, turkey permit and a special archery permit.
Laro is a stay-at-home father now. He has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached last week through his civil attorney, Richard Mitchell of Nashua.
Susan Proulx said her husband knew Corbin Park "like the back of his hand" and the only one in the hunting party who did not seem to know his way around was Laro.
"He'd been going there for 25 years. It is an extremely safe place to hunt," she said. Susan Proulx said she has great memories of times hunting in Corbin Park with her husband, noting he shot his first elk there in the 1980s.
"Corbin was like a paradise for Bob and (me). It was one of the most precious places. We worked hard and looked forward to going there. It was beautiful and safe."
The 24,000-acre enclosed shooting preserve, founded in 1890, has a very limited membership. The park features a barn and a lodge as well as stocked ponds and brooks. It is licensed as a regulated shooting area for boar, elk and deer.
Proulx said she obeys the first rule to always identify a target before shooting. She expects other hunters to do the same.
"I don't want this to ever happen to another hunter," she said.