Passer-by kills perpetrator

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Skiier's cousin kills officer, then is killed by passer-by

The Associated Press News Service

FRANCONIA, N.H. -- A cousin of skiing star Bode Miller fatally shot and ran over a police officer, then was killed by a passer-by who grabbed the officer's gun.

Liko Kenney shot Cpl. Bruce McKay four times and ran over him after a traffic stop Friday evening, state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said.

Gregory Floyd, who was driving by with his son, grabbed McKay's gun and shot Kenney when he refused to put his gun down, Ayotte said.

Kenney, 24, was convicted of assaulting McKay and resisting arrest in 2003. Ayotte had no other details of that previous incident between the men, and rejected suggestions the officer should have let someone else handle the traffic stop given his history with the driver.

Officials said McKay pulled Kenney over for speeding on Route 116. Kenney took off, and McKay pursued him for about 1½ miles before pulling in front of Kenney's car and pushing it off the road.

The officer used pepper spray on Kenney and his passenger and then turned around and was shot, Ayotte said Saturday at a news conference in Concord. Soon after, Floyd arrived and confronted Kenney while his son called for help using the officer's radio. Authorities said Floyd was justified in shooting Kenney.

McKay, 48, was a 12-year veteran of the Franconia Police Department.

"It really tears at the fabric of the community and the fabric of the state," said Gov. John Lynch, who visited the town of about 900 residents Saturday as people paid their respects and brought flowers to a police station.

Bode Miller's father, Woody Miller, said there was a history of animosity between the officer and his nephew.

"They had a long relationship," said Miller, who operates an international tennis camp in nearby Easton. "There's been physical altercations between them before in the course of being arrested."

Miller said Kenney, who lived next door to him, didn't have a steady job, but often took work cutting firewood and picking fiddlehead ferns, a wild green that grows in the region and is considered a delicacy.

Bode Miller, who once bailed his cousin out of jail, was on his way home to Franconia, his father said. Miller was in Park City, Utah, this week, meeting with officials of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. At that meeting, the former Olympic medalist told officials he was cutting his ties with the U.S. team.

The shooting happened near this town in the White Mountain National Forest, popular with skiers and tourists who visited the Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation and the state's symbol that crumbled into pieces four years ago.