The sentence came almost a year after Christian Walker was shot outside Riverside Plaza.
KEENE, N.H. — Thomas Pickford stood in court, apologized to Christian Walker’s family and accepted a 27-years-to-life prison sentence for a shooting that began with a meeting to return belongings.
The June 3 hearing in Cheshire County Superior Court closed the criminal case against Pickford, 18, of Swanzey, who pleaded guilty to reckless second-degree murder. Walker, 17, of Orange, Massachusetts, was killed June 25, 2025, in the Riverside Plaza parking lot on Winchester Street. The plea changed the case from a pending homicide prosecution into a conviction and gave Walker’s family a chance to speak directly about what was lost.
Judge Anne M. Edwards heard from Walker’s relatives and a close friend before imposing the sentence. In the courtroom, family members described a teenager who had just finished his junior year and was looking toward work, training and adulthood. Ashley Walker, his mother, said Christian wanted to attend Motorcycle Training Institute Inc. in Florida and build a future around that skill. “It was an honor to be his mom,” she said, telling the court that parents are not supposed to bury their children.
Other statements focused on Walker’s daily place in the family. His sister, Dakota Walker, said he was “more than a case number” and described him as a face the family counted on during hard days. Supporters sat nearby in shirts and carried signs with messages calling for justice. The judge thanked the speakers and asked about photos of Walker that were displayed in court. The hearing joined the formal language of a plea agreement with the personal details of a life that ended at 17.
Pickford’s statement was brief. He said he felt terrible for what he had done and apologized to Walker’s family. “I deserve this,” Pickford said. The judge said the facts showed a reckless act that forever changed two families. She noted that Pickford may not have meant to kill anyone, but his decision to fire from a vehicle in a public parking lot still caused Walker’s death. The conviction was for reckless second-degree murder, a charge tied to conduct that shows extreme indifference to human life.
The facts presented in the case traced the shooting to the early morning hours of June 25, 2025. Pickford had arranged to meet an ex-girlfriend at Riverside Plaza to return belongings, including clothing and a cellphone. The young woman was a passenger in Walker’s pickup truck when Pickford arrived. After the exchange, witnesses said people at the scene traded snide remarks. Pickford then went back to his mother’s vehicle, which prosecutors said he had taken without permission.
Witnesses said Pickford reached for something inside the vehicle and then held it out of the window. Investigators later identified the object as a 9 mm pistol stolen from his mother. Pickford fired several shots while leaving the area. One shot struck Walker in the lower abdomen. People nearby called 911, and police and emergency crews responded to the parking lot. Walker was taken to Cheshire Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:49 a.m.
The medical findings became a central record in the case. Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Abigail Alexander performed an autopsy and concluded that Walker died from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. The manner of death was ruled homicide. State police, Keene police and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office investigated the shooting. Officials said all parties involved were identified and that there was no known continuing threat to the general public after the incident.
Pickford was 17 when Walker was killed, and the first public court information described the suspect as a juvenile. The New Hampshire Department of Justice later announced that a juvenile had been charged with second-degree murder, while also noting that state law limited the release of juvenile court information. When the case reached the June 2026 plea and sentencing stage, Pickford was publicly identified as the defendant and appeared in Superior Court as an 18-year-old.
The sentence requires Pickford to serve at least 27 years before parole eligibility, unless he earns reductions allowed by the court. He may reduce the minimum term by up to four years through prison programming, education and behavioral benchmarks. The structure gives prison officials and the court a way to measure conduct during incarceration, but it does not erase the life sentence. For Walker’s family, the court action ended the prosecution but did not restore the graduation, plans and years they said were taken.
As of Tuesday, Pickford remains sentenced under the June 3 judgment, and the next milestone in the case will come only if he later seeks earned reductions or parole review under the sentence.
Author note: Last updated July 7, 2026.