MANCHESTER, NH – A harmless game with toy guns turned deadly when a real gun, thought to be unloaded, was introduced into the game, ending the life of a 29-year-old man.
Kade Harrower, 29, died Monday afternoon in an Elm Street apartment during a game that began with Nerf guns but ended with him dying from a gunshot wound to the chest.
On Wednesday, his friend, Adrien David Garcia Bonilla, 21, of 57 Schiller St., was arraigned in 9th Circuit Court – District Division – Manchester on felony charges of manslaughter and reckless conduct.
Garcia Bonilla called 911 at 3:40 p.m. Monday to report the shooting. When officers arrived, he was in a hallway of 1015 Elm St., crying and holding his cell phone. He led officers to apartment 402 where they found Kade Harrower, 29, a man Garcia Bonilla described as a brother, on the floor. He had been shot in the arm with the bullet entering the left side of his chest.
Officers immediately initiated life-saving measures. Firefighters arrived, taking over the care of Harrower but, unfortunately, he was declared dead at 4:17 p.m.
Garcia Bonilla, who had blood on his hands, remained in the hallway as emergency personnel attended Harrower. He told officers that for a week he had been temporarily staying in apartment 402. Garcia Bonilla described his relationship with Harrower as “brothers” although they were not biologically related.
He told police that at 3:35 p.m. he was in the laundry room on the fourth floor, near the apartment, when he heard a single gunshot. He ran back to the apartment, found Harrower holding his side and, “NR,” a woman, fleeing the apartment. He called 911 and stayed with Harrower until officers arrived.
Video recordings, obtained by police, recorded NR at 3:43 p.m. leaving the building and walking with a black satchel to a parked vehicle. She was recorded opening the truck and placing a bag inside before returning to the apartment and using a cell phone. She appeared to be making animated hand movements, according to the sworn affidavit of Officer Harrison Elwell on file in District Court.
She followed officers into the building. Initially, NR told police she was not at home at the time of the shooting. Confronted with the video evidence, NR told police Harrower and Garcia Bonilla had been playing with toy “Nerf” guns. She said Garcia Bonilla came around the corner and just pretended to shoot him “but I guess it was loaded,” she told police.
JF, another resident of the apartment, on hearing the gunshot, fled the apartment in a panic with her young child. Officers initially reached her by telephone and she confirmed that Harrower and Garcia Bonilla were playing with toy guns when she heard a loud “bang” in a bedroom and fled with her child. She said she drove away from the area and dropped her child off at the father’s home before returning to the apartment.
She said Garcia Bonilla was known to have a firearm but she couldn’t provide any details regarding it or its location.
Investigators interviewed Garcia Bonilla at the police station. He admitted he had not been honest with officers about what happened and disclosed he retrieved Harrower’s firearm from the bathroom.
He said he intended to play a trick on Harrower by hiding the firearm. He said the gun was on a shelf above the toilet with the magazine removed, next to the weapon. ]Garcia Bonilla said he hid the gun in a closet in JF’s bedroom, with the intent to play a trick on Harrower, and then went back to socializing with the group.
Harrower and Garcia Bonilla began playing with the toy guns in JF’s bedroom. He hid in a closet as Harrower shot toy projectiles at him. Garcia Bonilla said, with the intent to play a trick on Harrower, he retrieved the gun from the closet and checked the slide to ensure it was unloaded. He did not see a cartridge eject from the gun and believed it was unloaded. He pointed the gun at Harrower at close range and pulled the trigger, striking his friend.
Garcia Bonilla immediately ran to Harrower to render aid by applying pressure to the wound and attempted to prevent Harrower from falling but he eventually collapsed on the living room floor. He said both women fled the apartment after the gunshot but he alleged NR picked up the gun before leaving. He then called 911 and stayed with Harrower until officers arrived.
JF told police the incident was “an unfortunate joke involving Nerf guns.” She said Harrower and Garcia Bonilla were playing with toy guns when Garcia Bonilla mistakenly used a real firearm.
Garcia Bonilla is being detained in the Valley Street jail on $2,500 cash bail.
He is to return to court for another hearing on Feb. 25.