BY SUSAN WARE

A brutal dusk assault on Thursday, June 14, left a 20-year-old Hooksett man fighting for his life. The next day he succumbed to the injuries from the beating while being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital.

According to Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell, Ryan Carlson was assaulted at approximately 8:20 p.m. He was found unconscious in an alley on Franklin Street near the Getaway Lounge. Police responded to a call regarding Carlson just 10 minutes later.

Authorities are now trying to piece together what happened that night.

Their preliminary assumption is that a fight between two groups of young men started brewing at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Carlson was at the arena to see his sister Christine graduate from Central High School. His sister had become ill and did not attend the ceremony, but Carlson had arrived at the arena unaware that his family wasn’t there. It is believed that Carlson left the arena before U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton took the stage.

What happened after that is a mystery, and so is the cause of death.

Morrell said on June 18 that the Attorney General’s Office was waiting for a neurological autopsy to be performed and that the cause of death cannot be determined until those results are in. She stressed that this type of autopsy will take at least two weeks, probably longer.

Morrell would not say what types of injury Carlson sustained, simply reiterating that there was neurological testing that needed to be done.

She did say that, despite the cause of death being undetermined at this time, meaning it has not been ruled a homicide, her office is still investigating his death will full force.

“We are working every angle to figure out what happened to Ryan Carlson. We are working closely with his family too, to help them deal with the, homicide process,” she said.

Carlson’s Myspace pages say that he was a bass player and professed a love for music and skateboarding.

One of his Myspace pages has a photograph of him when he was much younger, maybe middle-school age.

The title to the page is sadly proving prophetic. It appears that Carlson wrote in January 2006 “You thought I was gone?”  Then: “I’m Not Going Newwhere Guys” and “i’m sorry god, i didn’t mean it.”

Morrell said her office is looking for anyone who might have seen anything that night, starting in the Verizon Wireless Arena, on Elm Street, Franklin Street or streets in between. She is asking that people contact her office 271-3658 or the Manchester Police Department 668-8711.