On the evening of May 11, 2007, Franconia, New Hampshire police corporal Bruce McKay III, 48, stopped a vehicle for speeding. The driver, 24-year-old Liko Kenney, fled, and after McKay forced the car off the road and deployed pepper spray Kenney produced a .45 caliber handgun and shot McKay multiple times. An autopsy confirmed McKay died of four gunshot wounds, and witnesses report Kenney then ran over the fallen officer with his vehicle.

The attack was seen by a passerby, Gregory W. Floyd, who drove with his son. Floyd positioned his vehicle to shield McKay, retrieved McKay’s service weapon and ordered Kenney to drop his gun; when Kenney refused, Floyd shot and killed him. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office later investigated Floyd’s actions and concluded they were justified; no criminal charges were filed against him.

The case highlighted prior animosity between McKay and Kenney, including a previous conviction of Kenney for assaulting McKay. Years afterward Kenney’s father filed a civil rights lawsuit involving McKay’s estate, the town and Floyd; claims against the town and police were dismissed for lack of evidence of constitutional violations by Officer McKay.