LEOMINSTER — On Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, at about 9:48 p.m., Leominster Police Officer Zachary Schaeffer was assigned to the city’s food truck festival when units were notified by the command trailer of a fight in progress at the First Church Unitarian Universalist, located at 15 West Street.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Zachary Schaeffer and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“Upon arriving in the area, I observed a large group yelling at a male unknown to me. I immediately separated the group and had the male sit away from the group,” Officer Schaeffer said. “I kept trying to direct the male away from the group, but he was more worried about his bag that he had misplaced somewhere in the bushes in front of the church.”
Officer Schaeffer said that while attempting to control the man, he could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his person.
“I placed my hand on his chest and directed him to sit on a set of stairs next to the church,” Officer Schaeffer said. “The male stood up against the wall of the church and stood by with Officer [Randy] Osborne, while I went to speak with the other individuals involved.”
Officer Schaeffer then met with Lieutenant Sean Ferguson, the officer overseeing the Leominster Food Truck Festival, who was already speaking with several witnesses.
“Lt. Ferguson was speaking with a male who had recorded the incident prior to officers’ arrival,” Officer Schaeffer said.
The male, identified as 23-year-old Andrews [last name] redacted recorded a video of the male in question leaning up against the church wall, urinating.
“Andrews showed me a video of the incident, the video which was blurry showed the male in question leaning up against the church wall with his back to Andrews,” Officer Schaeffer recounted. “The video cuts out after that and does not show any part of the male’s genitals.”
Andrews told Officer Schaeffer that after he saw the man urinating against the church wall, he yelled at him to stop because children were nearby. The man then turned around and placed his hand under his shirt, which Andrew told police was an attempt by the man to pretend that he was concealing a weapon underneath his clothing.
“Andrews stated the male would come closer to him with his hand wrapped under his shirt, but never revealed a weapon,” Officer Schaeffer said. “The male was also yelling obscenities back at Andrews and the others in the group.”
Officer Schaeffer then went to speak with another witness, a 43-year-old named Jennifer [last name redacted].
“Jennifer stated the male was up against the wall of the church in the corner urinating,” Officer Schaeffer said. “Jennifer did not see any part of the male’s genitals, but did state he turned around with his hand under his shirt acting like he had some sort of weapon, but did not display anything. The male began yelling back at the group that had confronted him about him urinating on the church wall due to children being in the area.”
The man who allegedly urinated against the church wall was later identified as 30-year-old Christopher McFadden, who police say is homeless in Leominster, Massachusetts.
Christopher McFadden was arrested and charged with the following:
- Disorderly Conduct – “Christopher was seen urinating in public by two witnesses. When officers arrived on scene, he was observed yelling at a group of patrons who were attending the food truck festival,” Officer Schaeffer said. “Christopher was also observed by the two witnesses placing his hand under his shirt acting as though he had a weapon. Christopher acts were observed at a public event being hosted by the City of Leominster.”
Officer Schaeffer said during a pat frisk of McFadden before he was transported to the station, he located a knife on his person, which was placed into a locker at the station for safekeeping.
McFadden was arraigned in Leominster District Court on Sept. 15, 2025. Following his arraignment he was released on personal recognizance. His next court date is a pretrial conference scheduled for Oct. 23, 2025.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in September, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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