Brandie Tarantino

Less-than-lethal force

A standoff began when police arrived at a Quality Inn around 7:30 p.m. for a wanted check on 51-year-old Stephen Marshall and another man. When officers approached the building, they said Marshall broke the window of a first-floor room from the inside. Marshall allegedly jumped out the window holding a semi-automatic gun and engaged the officers, who shot and killed him. Christian St. Cyr, 26, and Brandie Tarantino, 21, were both found dead in the Quality Inn after the standoff. At least one of them had shot at police during the standoff. Police said they did not die from gunshot wounds or internal injuries, and toxicology results were pending. New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie V. Duval determined that the cause of Brandie Tarantino St. Cyr's death was the combined effects of environmental hypothermia and acute intoxication by fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine. The manner of her death is undetermined.