MARLBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) – A state police trooper fatally shot a man in the stomach as the two struggled during a traffic stop Monday, WMUR-TV reported.

Simon Brown, assistant attorney general, said the man “assaulted the trooper,” giving him “serious facial injuries.”

The man was identified as Sasha Yuksel, 35, of Hollis, who was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Swanzey earlier Monday and was wanted by police, accused of assaulting his mother and her husband.

Yuksel was taken to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene and underwent surgery.

Ty Snitko, who works at a coffee shop on Main Street, saw the trooper pull over a man in front of the shop. He said the man got out of the car when asked, but began resisting when the officer put his hands on him.

“The two of them then started fistfighting and slap-fighting and whatnot,” Snitko said.

After a few minutes, the man started walking toward the cruiser. The trooper walked up and pepper-sprayed him in the face, said Snitko.

Snitko said the man was “obviously blinded by the pepper spray and started flailing around.”

Snitko and another witness said the officer then pulled out his gun and shot the man in the abdomen at point-blank range.

“Right in the gut,” said Snitko of Peterborough. “No freeze. No nothing.”

The State Police Major Crime Unit is investigating.