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 the local gas station where he worked.
This past Monday at 3 a.m., Shannon Cothran was the lone employee at the Shell station in downtown 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’ o clock at Nashua’s main street Shell Station.