Piano Teacher Shoots, Kills Self While Awaiting Sex Assault Trial Verdict

The jury in John Goodwin case reached a mistrial Friday afternoon; they did not know about the shooting

A man awaiting a verdict in his sexual assault trial shot and killed himself outside the courthouse on Friday.

John Goodwin, 75, a longtime piano teacher from Atkinson, New Hampshire, went on trial this week for allegedly sexually assaulting a former student between 2002 and 2005. Prosecutors said the abuse began when the boy was 11 years old.

While jurors were deliberating around 11 a.m. in the Rockingham County Superior Court in Brentwood, Goodwin went outside and shot himself in the chest with a handgun.

Goodwin was critically injured and transported to a Massachusetts hospital. The sheriff's office was later notified that he had died.

"I felt bad for him, I felt bad for his wife," said Chris Neville, who works at the courthouse.

The jury in the case reached a mistrial later Friday afternoon, and did not know about the shooting.

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