LEOMINSTER — On Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 9:03 p.m., Officer Jonathan Benoit of the Leominster Police Department was dispatched to the CVS at 9 Nelson Street after a manager was informed that an “irate” man on the way there to get his medication, may threaten the staff with a gun.
(The account and quotations in this article were taken from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Benoit.)
“Prior to arrival I requested an additional unit. Upon arrival I quickly searched the store and not seeing any sort of commotion, I spoke with the reporting party, Ms. Kerie Barrett, a pharmacy tech,” Officer Benoit said.
Barrett said the pharmacy was informed by Dr. Susan Young’s office at Fitchburg Primary Care that Martin Magnan, a patient of theirs, was on the way there with a firearm to get his medication.
According to court documents, Magnan 77, is a resident of 3 Regan Place, Leominster. He’s single, disabled, and identifies as “cisgender.”
After hearing this, Officer Benoit instructed the CVS employees – some of whom were visibly upset – to get the customers out of the store, close the store, and leave until it is safe to return to work.
(Courtesy Photo/Google Street View)
“It should be noted that the information that was relayed to the store had panicked some employees, a couple of them were crying and saying they were going home and they didn’t want to be there,” Officer Benoit explained. “None of them were forced to stay and were encouraged to leave expeditiously.”
Officer Benoit then called Dr. Young’s office.
“I spoke with Ms. Andrea Tourigny who works for Fitchburg Primary Care. She stated that Mr. Magnan had called her upset regarding his insulin medication citing that it was the 7th time this year they’ve made a mistake with his medication and he was running out,” Officer Benoit said. “Ms. Tourigny stated this alleged exact quote of Mr. Magnan, ‘What do I have to do, go to CVS with a f$ck*ng gun?’ She states that due to the vulgarity and mention of a firearm, that she was not required to talk with him by their policy and she hung up the phone.”
Officer Benoit, Sergeant Elvin Vasquez, and Officer Dennis Hatstat then went to 3 Regan Place to speak with Magnan.
“Mr. Magnan is hard of hearing as he is 77 years old and requires the use of hearing aids in order to hear,” Officer Benoit said. “Even with the hearing aid in, we had to speak with raised voices in order to converse with him.”
Magnan told police that he’d never bring a firearm to CVS, let alone shoot anyone there. Rather, he rhetorically asked an employee of Fitchburg Primary Care if he had to bring a gun to CVS to get his prescription because it was taking so long to get his medication refilled.
“He indicated that he was frustrated as he has one dose left of his insulin before he is completely out and his prescription should have been filled a week ago. He stated that he had asked the worker at Fitchburg Primary Care if he had to go to CVS with a gun in order to get his prescription. He was advised not to go to the CVS today as he had scared them quite a bit. He indicates he has multiple firearms that he purchased over 50 years ago,” Officer Benoit said. Adding, “Sgt. Vasquez and I felt that there was no danger to the store at this time and had that related to the staff so they could reopen the store if they were so inclined.”
Officer Benoit then spoke with the district manager of CVS to inform her of the outcome of the investigation. The manager said she’d like to trespass Magnan from the store, adding that she’d have to get her supervisor’s approval and will call back once approval is obtained and/or she needs further information.
No charges were filed against Magnan, but police submitted a requested for a review of Magnan’s License to Carry. A report was also filed with Aging Services of North Central Massachusetts for elder abuse.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from October, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
