OSSIPEE - Police Chief Don Grow was returning to his parked cruiser outside town hall Wednesday morning shortly after 9:30 a.m. when a man seated alone in a blue pickup truck shot himself in the head.

Grow said the man was still alive when ambulances rushed him to the hospital. Grow said he is in his late 40s or early 50s, and police are withholding his identity until next of kin are notified.

"I still don't know how he is," said Grow. In an interview at the police station in Ossipee late Wednesday morning, Grow said he believed the incident had no connection to town government or the elections on Tuesday.

"This had nothing to do with the town hall," he said, adding he believed it was a personal issue. No one else was harmed, and there was no threat to employees or visitors at town hall, located at 55 Main St., Center Ossipee, right across the street from the Ossipee Central School.

Grow said he saw the man seated in his blue Dodge Dakota truck smoking a cigarette prior to the shooting. As Grow left town hall and opened the door to his cruiser, he heard a gunshot. After advising town hall personnel to stay put, Grow determined the gunshot came from the blue pickup truck and alerted emergency medical personnel.

Grow said the man used a small caliber handgun.