Shannon reportedly told lawmen: 'I'll take you out'

Benjamin Shannon

ROCHESTER - A family member said an armed Benjamin Shannon told officers he would “take them out” if they tried to arrest him moments before shots were fired.

Shannon, 34, was inside his mother’s Periwinkle Drive mobile home on Monday when three parole/probation officers and a Strafford County Sheriff’s Deputy entered the residence to arrest him on a parole violation, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.

Moments later, Rochester Police got a call for “shots fired” and went to the scene where Shannon was found shot and airlifted to Maine Medical Center where he died late Monday night.

The Attorney General’s office has said they will have no further comment on the case pending a full investigation.

An autopsy was scheduled on Shannon by the Maine State Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday.

No lawmen were injured in Monday’s shooting.

The family member, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Shannon had definitely decided he was not going to go quietly. He said that since the shooting the family has spoken of his last words, which were said as lawmen proceeded down a hallway toward a bedroom where he was.

“He said, ‘I’ll take you guys out cause I’m not going with you guys,’ ” the family member said on Tuesday. That statement was immediately followed by the sounds of multiple gunshots, he said.

A resident of the Saks Trailer Park who knew Shannon growing up in Farmington said he was a nice guy who enjoyed life, but addictions to drug and alcohol had caught up with him.

 “I never thought it would go to this extent,” he said. “But addictions sometimes push people to do things they wouldn’t normally do.”

Shannon was arrested last month in the armed robbery of George and Ed’s convenience store on North Main Street. He was facing indictment on the charge. Police later said he had threatened the clerk with a pellet gun in the robbery.

The family member said he had a real gun on Monday.

Court testimony at his probable cause hearing also revealed he was in detox for drug and alcohol dependency.