In the days and weeks after last November’s New Hampshire hospital shooting, a wealth of information about the gunman emerged.

John Madore had a history of schizophrenia and had previously been a patient at New Hampshire Hospitala state-run psychiatric facility. Madore was transient, staying in hotels but in regular contact with loved ones.

An investigation by the New Hampshire attorney general’s office revealed that Madore obtained the gun he used to kill Bradley Haas, a security guard stationed in the hospital lobby, from a licensed firearms dealer, even though he was forbidden of having a gun because of his past psychiatric commitments.

The the attorney general’s reportreleased in August, also pointed to Madore’s whereabouts that day before pulling a rented U-Haul loaded with an additional gun and ammunition into the hospital parking lot. The investigative report included still images and a detailed timeline, but the state declined to release any video footage, despite the longstanding practice of doing so at the conclusion of investigations into officer-involved shootings.

Related: Security improvements remain ongoing, one year after NH hospital shooting

NHPR recently obtained five videos from the state, with angles from both inside and outside the hospital lobby, including a panoramic view showing the main entrance, security office and most of the lobby. Portions of the video are redacted or unclear; the state said the decision was made to protect the private interests of the families involved.

We sought the footage, through a Right to Know request, with two main goals: To better understand what happened that day and to see what, if anything, could have been done differently. And secondly, let’s try to understand what changes could be made to improve security.

Here’s what I learned.

What the videos show

The main video inside the lobby is about 30 minutes long.

Jeff Czarnec, one of two experts NHPR asked to review the footage, worked in law enforcement in Manchester for 23 years and now teaches criminal justice at Southern New Hampshire University.

He described the lobby’s appearance as attractive and bright, which is important for a psychiatric unit, but that the metal detectors near the entrance could easily be overcome.

“It’s great to have them in place,” Czarnec said. “But they’re not necessarily a deterrent to someone looking to do harm.”

And that was clearly what Madore was trying to do.

Related: NH gun reform fails after hospital shooting. Lawyers will try again in 2025.

The video shows him walking out of the parking lot wearing black pants, a flannel shirt and a vest. It moves quickly. As soon as he enters the hall through the sliding glass doors, he puts his right hand into his right pocket without pausing and pulls out a gun.

“He came right in and was fully prepared. I don’t think he was even two feet in when he started shooting,” Czarnec said.

The video shows Bradley Haas, the security guard, sitting at a table next to the metal detector, looking at his phone. He barely has time to raise his head before he is shot.

“A matter of seconds. There is no preparation, there is no warning,” Czarnec said.

Haas was a 28-year veteran of the Franklin police force, rising to the rank of chief. Since retiring from that position, he has worked as a security guard at New Hampshire Hospital for more than three years.

There were later questions about why someone in that position – with his level of experience – was not armed. Attorney General John Formella was asked about this by reporters the day after the shooting and said “it would not be common for that position to be armed, working with security in the front lobby.”

During this year’s legislative session, a bipartisan bill sought to close a perceived gap in the background check reporting system. which Madore took advantage of to buy the gun.

Republican state Rep. JR Hoell, speaking on the House floor, said the issue wasn’t the state’s gun laws, but that Haas wasn’t carrying a gun that day to protect himself and others.

“So why wasn’t the person manning the security booth, the metal detector, carrying a personal firearm that day?” Hoell asked.

There is no national consensus on whether armed security guards are appropriate for acute psychiatric units. But what this video from last November shows is that having a gun may not have saved Bradley Haas that day.

“Even if he had been armed, there’s not a lot you could have done that would have prevented what we saw (that day),” said Brian Higgins, who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which also reviewed the hospital. security footage at NHPR’s request. “It’s almost like he had no chance.”

A state trooper confronts the gunman

After Madore shoots Haas, he walks around the lobby shooting at the bulletproof windows, though that section of the video has been redacted. The attorney general describes in his report that Madore eventually shoots Haas again while he is on the ground.

The next set of doors in the hospital are locked, though. Madore is essentially blocked from entering the building any further.

About 22 seconds after Madore fired the first shot, State Trooper Nathan Sleight can be seen on the right side of the frame. He opened the door to an office connected to the hall, where he had been positioned when the fire broke out.

Madore sees him but continues to try to reload his gun. According to the report, Sleight ordered Madore to drop the weapon, but there is no audio recording from the lobby.

Sleight then opens fire from a protected position.

“The police over there do all the right things by virtue of training: hide and cover,” Czarnec said.

Madore falls to the ground, injured, leaning against a wall. Still, he continued to move his hands, trying to recharge.

Sleight fires a second time: the muzzle flashes in rapid succession.

“Then fire again to make sure the threat is gone,” Higgins said. “So I have no problem with that. Actually, that’s a good tactic.”

In all, Sleight fired 11 rounds, emptying his magazine. The Attorney General would later rule that he was justified in the use of force; both experts we asked to review this footage agreed with this conclusion.

Just seconds after Madore is shot, the sliding glass doors onto the sidewalk open again. A man enters the hall. The report would later identify this person as a patient of the hospital. He can be seen walking towards Madore and then towards Haas. Sleight quickly takes him outside.

In the video, Sleight runs to his cruiser parked out front to grab more ammo; then runs down the hall a second time to grab his bulletproof vest.

Within minutes, Concord police officers and several state troopers are on the scene.

They provide cover as Haas is dragged bleeding from the hallway and taken to nearby Concord Hospital, where he later dies.

Madore died at the scene.

A resilient staff remembers a colleague

The New Hampshire hospital had a patient count of 153 on the day of the shooting. There were dozens of doctors, nurses and other staff in the building. In the five minutes before the shooting, 13 people walked through the hospital lobby, according to footage reviewed by NHPR.

By pure chance, the hall was empty—except for the guard—when Madore entered.

“It’s really a great thing that, despite the tragedy, the event was contained in this area, and it really could have been a lot worse than it was,” Ellen Lapointe, CEO of New Hampshire Hospital, said recently during who was doing a tour of the hall. .

Following the shooting, changes were made to how staff and visitors enter the building. For example, the sliding glass doors on the outside no longer open automatically in the lobby.

This will, in theory, slow down anyone who wants to do harm.

Everyone now needs a badge or register to enter. There is also now an armed law enforcement officer stationed in the lobby during visiting hours.

Next January, a major construction project that was already in the works will completely overhaul the entrance and traffic flow.

But for now, this space is THE the main point of entry and exit for personnel.

Every day, they drive right past the spot where their colleague Bradley Haas was killed.

Lapointe says it’s been a tough year.

“There was a lot of staff resilience and a very strong focus on patient care and honoring Brad’s memory and really remembering him for the positive, kind, helpful gentleman that he was,” Lapointe said. “And trying not to focus on the tragedies that happened here.”