ROCKLAND — A 25-year-old man from Connecticut is being held at the Knox County Jail on $50,000 cash bail after he was arrested Aug. 22 for allegedly threatening on Facebook to bring a gun to the local Walmart, which lead to the store closing early at 9 p.m. the evening before.

Jeremy H. Rogers, of Norwalk, Conn., was arrested at approximately 7 p.m. on Aug. 22 and was charged with terrorizing, terrorizing with a dangerous weapon and illegal possession of a firearm.

Rogers made his initial appearance in Knox County Unified Court Friday afternoon, Aug. 23, before Judge Barbara Raimondi.

According to the affidavit filed in court, Thomaston Police Chief Tim Hoppe alerted Rockport police that he received notification from the New York State Police stating that Rogers had allegedly sent a video via Facebook messenger to a woman in New York while wearing a mask with an AR-15 firearm. In the video, Rogers, using vulgar language, said that he was going to Walmart. His Facebook page showed that he lived in Rockport.

A second video showed Rogers, this time without a mask, making belittling comments about a woman while pointing a gun at his head, according to the affidavit.

Although Rogers did not mention a specific Walmart in this threats, police and Walmart management decided to close the Thomaston store since it is the closest to Rockport. The store closed at 9 p.m. Wednesday evening, Aug. 21 and reopened with normal business hours the following morning.

Police also found another video on Facebook, this time showing Rogers shooting off a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle into the air at a Mount Pleasant Street property in Rockport. 

They said that the property was heavily fenced with barbed wire on top of the fence.

Rogers had previous convictions in 2016 in Connecticut for criminal possession of a firearm, with the risk of injuring a child. He also had a suspended driver’s license, according to the court document.

He will appear in court again Sept. 26 for a dispositional conference.

Sarah Shepherd can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com