CONCORD – The 30-year-old man who accidentally shot his best friend in the head three years ago will soon leave the walls of prison after being granted parole Thursday.

Christopher Bazar has spent nearly three years in prison, which he said saved his life, after shooting his friend Donald St. Laurent on Dec. 2, 2011, in a Hudson apartment.

Bazar was drunk and high when he shot St. Laurent in the head with a shotgun he knew was loaded. He was sentenced to 4-10 years in prison by Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Jacalyn Colburn, the same judge who also suspended the last part of Bazar’s sentence in September, allowing him to seek parole.

Although the parole board granted Bazar’s request at a hearing on Thursday at the New Hampshire State Prison, there is no date on when Bazar will be released, according to a report from New Hampshire One News.

Donald St. Laurent’s parents and brother attended the hearing. His father, Donald St. Laurent, is going to give Bazar a roofing job at his small contracting business and St. Laurent’s mother Debbie is going to provide Bazar with a place to live, according to NH1 news.

St. Laurent’s parents have publicly supported Bazar since shortly after their son’s death.

They spoke on his behalf at the September hearing when he requested a shortened sentence.

“We live with this every day. I think this is the best way to put this behind us,” Donald St. Laurent said of releasing Bazar to allow him to continue his public service and get on with his life. “We’ve been in touch with Chris and we are pretty proud of what he’s done” while in prison.

Bazar told Colburn prison has turned him into a “reputable person” and helped him realize he had struggled with alcoholism for years. He started drinking when he was 14, he said, and was arrested for drunk driving twice.

Bazar said he was able to find a source of inspiration to stay sober in prison.

“If I felt like I needed to drink, I’d just think of that night,” he said. “And it thoroughly disgusts me.”

Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia LaFrance filed no objection to Bazar being eligible for parole short of his four-year minimum sentence. It’s clear, she said, he has been punished and rehabilitated, the goals of any prison sentence. “It looks like he’s well on his way to sobriety,” she said. “Hopefully he’ll remain on that road.”

“Prison saved my life,” Bazar told Colburn in September. “I’m very lucky, in an unlucky way.”

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Cote on Twitter (@Telegraph_JoeC).