MARLBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) – A man who authorities say was fatally shot by his friend was “a good, straight kid” who had given the friend a place to live when he had marital problems, an uncle said Monday.

“They went bar-hopping and everything together,” Claude Hutchins of Marlborough said of his nephew, Denis Hutchins, and the friend, Albert Sheehan. “I don’t know what brought it on.”

Sheehan allegedly killed Hutchins on Sunday in the woods in Alstead and walked away, then confessed to a man he met on the street that he shot his best friend in the head.

It wasn’t a hunting accident, Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin told WMUR-TV on Sunday night. “This individual actually meant to kill his friend,” he said. He didn’t comment on a motive.

Sheehan, 36, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Hutchins, who turned 28 on Saturday. Both men were from Marlborough.

The two counts are knowingly causing Hutchins’ death by shooting him, and/or recklessly causing the death showing “an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Investigators said a man who was with Sheehan and Hutchins and made a 911 call about 1 p.m. Sunday.

Ed Pacek said he was confronted on an Alstead street by a man who gave him a big hug, “like he was relieved or something.”

Pacek, who lives near the area, said the man “talked to me like he knew me, like I was a long-lost friend.”

“He said to me, I shot him,’ ” Pacek said. “And I asked, Who did you shoot?’ And that’s when he told me he shot his best friend in the head,’ ” Pacek said. “I guess instead of going into rescue mode, he went into shock.”

A firearm believed to have been used in the murder has been found near the scene.

Sheehan is scheduled to be arraigned in Keene District Court on Tuesday. WMUR said Sheehan’s ex-wife said family members were at a loss to explain what had happened.

Gertrude Putnam of Alstead said she saw police on her property. She said they asked to search a parcel of her 271-acre property.

“I posted all kinds of No trespassing’ signs, Putnam said. “Used to be we had hunters who would go out there to shoot moose and deer and such. … but now, there’s not even anything out there to hunt. You can’t even go snowshoeing or skiing out over there. There’s just no reason I can see why they would be out there.”

Putnam said police told her they were still looking for another man connected with the shooting.

Wade Dugray of Keene said he got to know Sheehan over the past few months doing construction work. He called Sheehan “a very open person, a very truthful person.”

“He’s a great guy,” Dugray said.