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Protest For Fired Clerk Who Pulled Gun On Armed Robber

Sheryl Rich-Kern, NHPR

    

  About 50 people rallied in Nashua to protest the firing earlier this week of a convenience store clerk who wielded a handgun to ward off an armed robber.

Supporters of fired employee Shannon Cothran stood near the local gas station where he worked in downtown Nashua on Saturday.

The held up signs, calling for a boycott of Shell gas stations, owned by Massachusetts-based Nouria Energy.

Kevin Boyle organized the demonstration.

He says while Cothran did break the company’s no-weapons policy, the company needs to reexamine its attitudes:

“This is an example to those who might take his overnight shift without being armed. Now criminals know the policy is to just give the money over. It puts the employees in even more harm’s way because they [the company] just announced it.”

Julie SciaScia of Nashua works across the street from the Shell gas station.

And while she doesn’t carry a gun, she says she understands why some employees would:

“I close at 9:30 at night and I’m afraid for my life every day. Over at Palmer’s Cleaners I have about twelve cameras. My theory is twelve cameras and something happens to me,  I’m gone.”

Protesters also called for safer systems like bullet-proof transaction windows.

Sheryl Rich-Kern has been contributing stories for NHPR since 2006, covering education, social services, business, health care and an occasional quirky yarn that epitomizes life in New Hampshire. Sherylâââ

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