LEOMINSTER — On Sunday, August 31, 2025, at approximately 2:58 p.m., Officer Brandon Carlson of the Leominster Police Department was dispatched to the Target at 86 Orchard Hill Park Drive following a report of a found firearm.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Brandon Carlson and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“Upon arrival, I was advised that the bag was found left in a shopping cart on August 30, 2025, at approximately 10:00 p.m. by the cart attendant [name redacted],” Officer Carlson said. “[The cart attendant] took the bag to the customer service desk, and it was locked inside a drawer.”
Officer Carlson said he spoke with Danielle [last name redacted], the executive team lead of asset protection at the Leominster Target, who told him that a man called Target and asked if anyone found his black cross-body bag.
“When he called and asked about the bag, an employee, Landri [last name redacted], asked if the bag had an ID in it,” Officer Carlson recounted. “Landri was told that the bag is empty but has two Spider-Man keychains on it.”
While still on the phone with the man, Landri took the bag from the locked drawer, opened it, and found a firearm inside along with a large amount of cash.
“The male was placed on hold, while Landri told Danielle about the firearm,” Officer Carlson said. “Danielle stated she took the bag and moved it into the loss prevention office, and it was not touched again. When I opened the bag, it contained a SCCY CPX-2 firearm with a magazine seated into the magazine well. I ejected the magazine from the magazine well and racked the slide of the firearm to eject any round that was chambered to make the firearm safe and locked the slide to the rear.”
Officer Carlson noted that there was no round loaded in the firearm’s chamber.
Officer Carlson then unloaded the magazine by hand and determined that it contained 11 9mm rounds of ammo, with enough space to hold an additional round. When inspecting the ammunition, Officer Carlson said that each round had a solid, rounded tip with a hard copper casing.
“The rounds had an intact silver primer on the base of each round,” Officer Carlson added.
The bag also contained counterfeit $100 bills marked “For Motion Picture Use Only,” indicating that they were prop bills intended for film or television production rather than real currency.
“In the front zipper of the bag were two sets of keys and a chap stick. All items were seized as evidence and transported back to the station by this officer,” Officer Carlson said. “Dispatch was able to check the serial number of the firearm (660909) and it has not been reported as stolen.”
Officer Carlson said Target employees observed the man on the store’s security cameras placing the bag in a shopping cart and then tracked him as he made purchases with a credit card.
“The name on the card was Kentrel Wilson,” Officer Carlson said.
Officer Carlson stated that when he ran the name Kentrel Wilson in the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) database, he found one match with a listed date of birth and an active warrant out of Haverhill District Court.
According to police, Kentrel Wilson, 36, is a resident of Londonderry, New Hampshire.
“The photo on CJIS is a match to the photo Target was able to supply for a still shot of the security camera footage,” Officer Carlson said. “Kentrel has a current address out of New Hampshire. Kentrel has no active LTC [License to Carry] in Massachusetts.”
Officer Carlson then left Target with the evidence, which was assigned property numbers and placed in temporary locker 13. He also requested that the firearm be processed for fingerprints. Officer Carlson added that Target’s asset protection team was going to send him the security camera footage as well.
At 4:00 p.m. that day, Officer Carlson said he received a call from Danielle who told him that Wilson called Target and said he would be back at 6:00 p.m. to get his bag.
“Danielle was able to ask for a name and was given the name of Kentrel Wilson with a phone number of 603-XXX-XXXX,” Officer Carlson said. “Danielle stated that Kentrel told her he would probably need to speak with the police about this incident before getting his bag from her.”
Officer Carlson said that by 7:00 p.m. that evening, Wilson had not returned to Target.
“I attempted to call the number he provided to Danielle, but received no answer,” Officer Carlson said. “I left a voicemail for Kentrel to give me a call back.”
Officer Carlson said that at 8:58 p.m., he received the surveillance footage from Target.
“The video shows Kentrel Wilson selecting a shopping cart outside of the store,” Officer Carlson said. “Kentrel then enters the store with the black bag visible in the shopping cart. Kentrel continues walking around the store with the bag in the same spot as when he entered the store. Kentrel exits Target after finishing his purchase, with the black bag still showing when he exits the store. Kentrel then returns the shopping cart and gets back into his vehicle and leaves the parking lot.”
In the video, the shopping cart attendant is seen bringing the bag into the store and leaving it near the exit. The cart attendant then brings the bag to customer service and hands it off to another employee who takes the bag and places it in a drawer, Officer Carlson said.
“At no point in the video does anyone touch the bag other than when [the cart attendant] brings it in from outside and hands it to [the customer service employee],” Officer Carlson said. “The bag was not opened by anyone that was visible on the video footage.”
Officer Carlson said that on September 3, 2025, he spoke with Wilson on a recorded line at the Leominster Police Department.
“Kentrel had called the police station earlier in the day requesting to speak about getting his property back,” Officer Wilson said. “Kentrel stated he was visiting a friend in the City of Leominster and had his firearm with him for personal protection. Kentrel stated he spoke with Detective Crawford about this. Kentrel stated he would come to the police station to speak about this incident.”
Officer Carlson said that at 10:00 p.m. on September 3, Wilson arrived at the Leominster Police Station.
“Dispatch confirmed Kentrel Wilson had one confirmed warrant out of Haverhill District Court,” Officer Carlson said. “Kentrel Confirmed his name and date of birth.”
Kentrel Wilson was then placed under arrest and charged with the following:
- Possess Large Capacity Firearm
- Carry Firearm without License Loaded
- Possess Large Capacity Feeding Device
- Firearm, Carry without License
Wilson was arraigned in Leominster District Court on Sept. 4, 2025.
Following his arraignment, he was held pending a dangerousness hearing.
During his dangerousness hearing on Sept. 8, 2025, Wilson was found not dangerous but bailable with conditions. He was released on $2,000 cash bail, under the condition that he undergo a mental health evaluation and waive rendition.
On Oct. 6, 2025, Wilson appeared for a pretrial conference in Leominster District Court, where Judge Mark Noonan dismissed the charges of possessing a large-capacity firearm and a large-capacity feeding device, both without prejudice.
Wilson is scheduled to return to court for a continuation of the pretrial conference on Nov. 13, 2025.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in August, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
To learn more about News Link Live’s unique business model, please read the following:
An online business model that could replace local newspapers
Why The Leominster Champion Failed
The Medium is the Message by Marshall McCLuhan
The Ego and the ID by Sigmund Freud
