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Saturday Rally Supports Late-Night Worker Safety

Sheryl Rich-Kern, NHPR

Friends of a fired convenience store employee who pulled out a gun to prevent a robbery are holding a rally in Nashua on Saturday at 2 PM at the local Shell gas station where he worked. 

This past Monday at 3 AM, Shannon Cothran was the lone employee at the downtown gas station in  Nashua.

When a masked individual came in, demanded money and threatened him with a knife, Cothran pull out his gun.

The assailant backed off and ran away. But a few hours later, Cothran was fired because his employer, Massachusetts-based Nouria Energy, has a strict no-weapons policy.

Cothran says he never told his employer of ten years that he kept a pistol in the drawer. "I knew I would be fired if I was ever put in a situation where I had to draw my weapon. I don’t have any issues for doing what their company policy says they would do. That being said, I really wish they would have better measures in place to protect their employees."

Cothran says he’d like to see better security for convenience store workers, such as bullet-proof glass.

The rally for Cothran, which is being billed as one to raise awareness for the safety of late-night workers, is scheduled for 2:00 PM  at Nashua’s Main Street Shell Station.

 

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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