Walmart shooting threat jolts small Maine town
It was an unusual summer night for Timothy Hoppe, police chief of Thomaston, a small Maine port town with a population of fewer than 3,000 people.
Hoppe, one of five police officers who patrol the 12squaremile town, said he was alerted to videos sent through Facebook Messenger of a Connecticut man threatening to shoot up a local Walmart.
New York authorities initially received the tip on Aug. 21 from a relative of Jeremy H. Rogers, 25, who lived in Norwalk until last month. New York authorities alerted police in Rockport, Maine, where Rogers was believed to be living.
According to his arrest warrant, Rogers created a
video of himself loading an AR15 while wearing a ski mask and saying, “F it, I’m going to Walmart,” before walking out of the camera’s view.
It was one of two videos Rogers sent the woman, the arrest warrant states.
A second video showed Rogers without a mask sitting in front of the screen, saying “Bitch ain’t got no rent, Bitch ain’t got no food, Bitch got money for Six Flags,” before pulling out what appears to be a revolver and putting it to his head, according to the warrant. The video ends at that point, the arrest warrant said.
Hoppe and his officers got involved since the nearest Walmart was located in Thomaston.
The chief called surrounding police departments to assist with the investigation. Hoppe also called the local Walmart and had the store close early that night.
Hoppe worked with the Rockland Police Department to file an emergency request with Facebook to obtain the GPS coordinates of the cellphone where the video was created. A Rockland police sergeant contacted Rogers’ family in Connecticut and determined the videos had been sent four days earlier, according to the arrest warrant.
Hoppe said the GPS data indicated the video was created at an apartment building in Thomaston.
By the next day, Hoppe said GPS information led them to a home in Rockport where Rogers had been staying and was seen on a third video shooting an AR15 into the air. The property was owned by another man from Connecticut who police knew possessed several hundred guns, according to the arrest warrant.
After Hoppe obtained an arrest warrant, Rogers was taken into custody without incident. The man who owned the property, which was heavily shielded by barbed wire atop a fence, has not been charged.
Rogers, who had been in Maine for only a few weeks, was charged with terrorizing, terrorizing with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
Rogers was on probation and banned from possessing firearms after serving two years in Connecticut prison for a 2016 felony gun conviction. Rogers was arrested in that case after Norwalk police responded to a disturbance at a Silk Street home and found he was in possession of guns with altered serial numbers and ammunition.
According to his Facebook page, Rogers grew up in Greenwich. A Greenwich High School official said Rogers withdrew in 2011 before graduating. It was not known why he withdrew.
Rogers is being held at the Knox County Jail on $50,000 bond. He is expected to appear at the Knox County Courthouse on Thursday.
Hoppe said 18 officers from his department and surrounding towns were involved in the investigation. He said federal authorities are considering filing more charges.
“Given everything that has been happening in the world, you can’t blow something like that off,” Hoppe said of Rogers’ videos, which were made three weeks after a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Rogers’ arrest came seven days after another Norwalk man, Brandon Wagshol, 22, who local police allege showed an interest on Facebook in staging a mass shooting. Wagshol, charged with possession of illegal highcapacity gun magazines, has been on house arrest since being released this month on bond.
Norwalk police Sgt. Terry Blake said his department is not “currently aware of ” any connection between Rogers and Wagshol.