Jalen Juwan Miller, age 26, of 28 Railroad Square, apt. 17, Nashua

NASHUA – An ongoing dispute over money owed appears to be at the root of last week’s downtown Nashua shooting, according to reports filed in court Monday.

The police affidavit and the complaints charging Nashua resident Jalen Juwan Miller, 26, with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of reckless conduct were filed in conjunction with Miller’s arraignment and bail hearing conducted in Hillsborough County Superior Court South.

Miller, who police say is known by the nickname “J-Rock,” was ordered held on preventive detention, with orders to have no contact by any means with the alleged victim, a 30-year-old Nashua man who suffered a gunshot wound to the foot that wasn’t considered life-threatening.

Miller is also prohibited from possessing any firearms or other dangerous weapons, and, if released from jail, must continue to live at 28 Railroad Square, Apt. 17, his most recent address.

Miller’s next court hearing hadn’t been scheduled as of Monday.

The first-degree assault charge, a Class A felony, accuses Miller of “knowingly causing bodily injury” to the alleged victim by “shooting him in the right foot with a firearm.”

The two reckless conduct counts charge Miller with “brandishing and discharging a handgun” in the area of Main Street, putting pedestrians and motorists in danger, the complaints state.

Judging from police reports, investigating officers didn’t appear to have much trouble locating witnesses to the incident, which took place on the sidewalk in front of Bicentennial Park between Darrell’s Music Hall and the Main Street Bridge.

One witness, a woman, had recorded much of the incident on her car’s “dashcam,” which she shared with police.

The accounts offered by several other witnesses pretty much matched up, and the images captured by the numerous video surveillance cameras in the area provided investigators with plenty of visuals of the confrontation and alleged shooting.

Police said “multiple witnesses” reported seeing two African-American men, one taller than the other, in the area where the alleged shooting took place. The taller man “is seen holding his arm straight out toward the other man,” police said of the witness accounts, when the shorter man “jolts backward.” The shorter man then “limps back to the vehicle” while the taller one flees on foot toward Water Street, the accounts state.

The vehicle referred to is the green Ford hatchback the alleged victim’s girlfriend was driving at the time of the incident.

A short time later an officer spotted the car and pulled it over in front of Peddlers Daughter, across the street from the cordoned-off scene. In the passenger seat was the alleged victim, his foot covered in a bloody bandage the girlfriend tried to apply, the reports state.

The alleged victim told police what happened, but he declined to identify the suspect by name.

Ambulance personnel tended to the man’s injury at the scene, after which he sat on a curb near the car occasionally speaking with police.

He did tell police the suspect, later identified as Miller,

had allegedly threatened him because he owed him money.

He told police he and the girlfriend were driving on Main Street when he spotted the suspect and told the girlfriend to pull over, police said. He got out and allegedly confronted Miller, who allegedly pulled a small handgun from a fanny pack and fired either two or three rounds.

Police said they later found two shell casings on the ground that matched a .380 caliber handgun.

One round struck the alleged victim in the foot, at which time he limped back to the car. By then, police began arriving at the scene in response to multiple calls for shots fired.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.