Federal agents cornered a Venezuelan man in a New Hampshire courthouse elevator before tackling him as he tried to flee — and taking down an elderly bystander in the melee, wild security footage shows.
Video released Monday from the Nashua Circuit Court shows two agents throwing 33-year-old Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez down to the floor and handcuffing him just outside an elevator on Feb. 20.
Venezuelan man Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez was arrested in a New Hampshire courthouse by federal agents on Feb. 20, 2025. New Hampshire Judicial Branch/Handout via REUTERSMarquez Colmenarez was in court after being charged with drunken driving, driving without a license and failing to provide information after an accident. New Hampshire Judicial Branch/Handout via REUTERS
An elderly man with a cane, who also rode the elevator with the agents and Colmenarez, was knocked to the floor during the confrontation. He was seen writhing in pain on his back.
Another older man who was in the elevator with the group tried to speak to the agents while they held Marquez Colmenarez down, the footage shows.
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The agents tapped Marquez Colmenarez on the shoulder as he was exiting the elevator. They spoke to him briefly before he tried to escape through the doors, making it just a few feet before the agents pinned him to the ground and barrelled into the man with the cane.
Marquez Colmenarez was appearing in court to face an arraignment on charges for drunken driving, driving without a license and failing to provide information after an accident all filed on Feb. 9, according to Nashua police.
Jared Neff, a court liaison officer for the Hudson Police Department, helped the agents restrain Marquez Colmenarez after overhearing a loud commotion near the elevator.
“There were voices yelling, ‘Stop!’ and then a loud ‘bang,’ which sounded like people had fallen on the ground and were actively fighting and struggling,” he wrote in an incident report.
Neff noted that Marquez Colmenarez was actively resisting arrest.
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An elderly bystander with a cane was knocked down during the arrest. New Hampshire Judicial Branch/Handout via REUTERSMarquez Colmenarez was transferred to an ICE facility in Texas. New Hampshire Judicial Branch via AP
The agents asserted they were working on orders to detain illegal immigrants and had tried to apprehend Marquez Colmenarez in the elevator before he fled, Neff said.
The judge presiding over Marquez Colmenarez’s arraignment issued a bench warrant when he failed to appear, even though he was already in the agents’ custody. The prosecutor handling the case was never contacted by federal agents about the arrest, police said.
Marquez Colmenarez was sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas, where he remained as of Monday, according to an online database.
Judges and other local officials are trying to fight President Trump’s efforts to place immigration officers in courthouses. Earlier in his term, Trump repealed a 2011 policy requiring that agents avoid public places like schools, religious places, and hospitals.
Immigration officers can make arrests “in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present” as long as it is permitted under state or local law.
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Diane Durgin, 67, is accused of shooting at a Black man who inadvertently drove to her property after a prearranged truck part sale, prosecutors said.
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
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Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
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Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
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Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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The streets of Portsmouth are still in the process of being cleaned up, as seen the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, following a huge snow storm.
It may be March, but winter in New Hampshire is far from over. Just one week after a blizzard tore through the state with heavy snow and high winds, the state is getting another round of snowfall.
The state will get three to five inches during the evening and night of Tuesday, March 3, says the National Weather Service (NWS) of Gray, Maine. While the accumulation will not be significant, the snowfall may cause dangerous road conditions and a layer of ice on the ground in certain parts of the state.
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Here’s what to know before tonight’s snow in New Hampshire, including snow totals and timing.
When will it snow in NH tonight?
According to the NWS, it will start snowing in New Hampshire during mid-afternoon or early evening and continue through the night. Specifically, snow will arrive to the southern part of the state around 2-3 p.m., spreading northwards through the rest of New Hampshire by 5 p.m.
Rain or freezing rain will mix in later this evening across southern New Hampshire, creating a wintry mix. All precipitation should move out of the state by midnight.
Due to the timing of today’s snowfall, the Tuesday evening commute will be affected, with the NWS warning to slow down and exercise caution while driving.
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How much snow will NH get tonight?
New Hampshire will get one to four inches of snow tonight, with one to two inches in northern New Hampshire, two to three inches in southern New Hampshire and three to four inches in the center of the state, with the possibility for five inches in localized areas.
In the Seacoast specifically, Portsmouth, Rye, Hampton and York are expected to get between two to three inches of snow, while Dover, Exeter and Rochester may get up to four.
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The wintry mix may also cause a light glaze of ice across southern New Hampshire.
Blizzard snowfall totals: Latest snowfall total from New Hampshire, Maine after blizzard
NH weather watches and warnings
The NWS has issued a winter weather advisory for the state of New Hampshire, in effect from 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 through 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4.