Unlicensed Security Guard is Caught with a Loaded Gun in Fenway Target

Last March, the Boston Police Department doing a routine check at the liquor store within the Target at 1345 Boylston St., caught a posted security guard carrying a loaded .357 revolver in violation of the Boston Licensing Board.

At a hearing on Tuesday, May 8, Boston Police detectives said that they found the security guard out of uniform and carrying a visible gun with an expired Boston firearms ID. In addition, the store failed to notify the city he would be on duty as required by the permit.

The extra security was meant to scare down college students from buying liquor. This violation comes only a week after a three-day suspension Target received for letting underaged students from buying beer.

The store has asked to get detailed Boston Police Officers to help scare off any underage drinkers from buying liquor from the store, but, often those go unfilled. To make up for it, Target has hired a third-party vendor New England Security that supplies off-duty police officers to fill the void.

Since the accident with the security officer, Target Liquor of Massachusetts has changed their policy. All security officers who show up should not have a gun and must be in conforming uniform, if not, they will be sent home.

Attorney Joseph Devlin for Target said he predicted this will be the last time the Target Liquor Store will be in front of the board because they recently invested in a new “super scanner” that has proven to be effective in deterring under 21-year-olds.

The store collected 34 fake IDs within the first three days in use. “We haven’t had an issue since,” said Devlin.

According to UniversalHub, in addition to last week’s punishment for allowing Wentworth students for going through a register line with beer, the store had gotten a one-day suspension after two Northeastern students were caught by BPD detectives in the process of buying some Natty Ice and Vodka in December.

“You wouldn’t think that you need a gun,” said Chair Christine Pulgini.

The board decides Thursday whether the security-guard incident will receive any punishment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.