Carl Drega was a carpenter from Columbia, New Hampshire, who became a serial killer.

In 1981, 80 feet of the riverbank along Drega's property collapsed during a rainstorm. Drega decided to dump and pack enough dirt to repair the erosion damage, restoring his lot along the Connecticut River to its original size. A state conservation officer, Sergeant Eric Stohl, claimed to have spotted the project from the river while passing the Drega property on a fish-stocking operation. The state took Drega to court, attempting to block his "project". On top of earlier actions by the town of Columbia, some dating back more than 20 years, starting when the town threatened Drega with liens, judgments and (ultimately) property seizure over a "zoning violation", relating to his failure to finish a house covered with tarpaper within a reasonable time-frame.

In 1995, the town selectman Vickie Bunnell, accompanied a town tax assessor to Drega's property in a dispute over an assessment. Drega fired shots into the air to drive them away. Drega bought a $575 AR-15, and began equipping his property with early-warning electronic noise and motion detectors against the inevitable government assault. On August 19, 1997, at about 2:30, two New Hampshire State Troopers arrested Drega in the parking lot of LaPerle's IGA supermarket in neighboring Colebrook, New Hampshire, for a "perception of defects" in his pickup truck. Drega shot and killed both troopers. Drega then commandeered their vehicle and drove to the office of former selectman, now lawyer and part-time Judge, Vickie Bunnell. Bunnell reportedly carried a handgun in her purse out of fear of Drega. She left by the back door. Drega walked to the rear of the building and shot her in the back from a range of about 30 feet. Bunnell died. Dennis Joos, editor of the local Colebrook News and Sentinel, worked in the office next door. Unarmed, he ran out and tackled Drega. Drega walked about 15 feet with Joos still clutching him around the legs, then shot Joos in the spine. He died.

Drega then drove across the state line to Bloomfield, Vt., where he fired at New Hampshire Fish and Game Warden Wayne Saunders, sending his car off the road. Saunders was struck on the badge and in the arm, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening. Police from various agencies soon spotted the abandoned police cruiser Drega had been driving. As they approached the vehicle, they began taking fire from a nearby hilltop where Drega had positioned himself, apparently still armed with the AR-15 and about 150 rounds of ammunition. He managed to wound two more New Hampshire state troopers and a U.S. Border Patrol agent before he himself was killed by police gunfire.