LONDONDERRY, NH – Londonderry Police arrested a male landscaper Thursday who they say flashed his handgun when an argument with a coworker escalated.
Police arrested Michael Joseph Masterson, 52, of Raymond on a felony charge of criminal threatening with a deadly weapon.
Capt. Patrick Cheetham of the Londonderry Police Department said the incident took place at about 10:40 a.m. Thursday on Commercial Lane at a landscaping company Cheetham declined to name, but which is identified in the police logs as Groundhog Landscaping.
Cheetham said Masterson and another man were unloading a truck at a company facility and they got into an argument, which escalated over the course of several minutes.
“Masterson allegedly pulled a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol from his waistband and … held it up in what the victim considered to be a threatening manner,” Cheetham said.
The alleged victim withdrew and told company management about the incident.
Managers called Masterson, told him to drive the truck to a company facility in Derry and notified Derry police, who detained Masterson there, interviewed him and found a 9mm gun on his person.
When Derry police realized the incident occurred in Londonderry, they notified Londonderry police around 11:00 a.m., and Londonderry officers arrived on the scene to conduct their own interviews.
Londonderry police arrested Masterson at about 11:40 a.m.
Masterson was released on personal recognizance bail and is set to be arraigned at Rockingham County Superior Court on May 12. Cheetham said Masterson has no criminal record.
After interviewing both Masterson and the alleged victim, police determined what apparently got them so heated.
“They were arguing over how to unload the truck,” Cheetham said.
