Laconia driver IDed as victim in Ashland police shooting

ASHLAND — The driver shot and killed by police during a traffic stop on Monday has been identified as Demitri Zimmer, of Laconia.

Zimmer, 24, was facing a felony charge for allegedly firing a gun and hitting a Holderness home last June.

Zimmer was identified by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday afternoon, following an autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of his death was a homicide.

Homicide is defined by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office as the “killing of one person by another.”

Just after 7 p.m. on April 20, Ashland officers stopped Zimmer's car on Main Street, near the fire station. During the stop, Zimmer allegedly pulled out a gun, and there was an exchange of gunfire between him and two officers. Zimmer was shot and pronounced dead at the scene, and one of the officers suffered a non-life-threatening injury.

The officer was taken to Concord Hospital-Concord to be treated for a gunshot wound on Monday night, and was released from the hospital on Tuesday.

The gunshots could be heard throughout the town, in what is a busy section of town for drivers and pedestrians. The incident closed a section of Main Street, as well as a section of Mill Street.

Court records show Zimmer was scheduled to appear in Grafton Superior Court at 9 a.m. on Aug. 17, in a hearing before trial for one charge of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon. The incident took place in Holderness on June 29, 2025, and Zimmer was indicted on Nov. 21, 2025. The charge is a felony.