CAMDEN, Maine — The shotgun carried by a man who held a pharmacist hostage during a standoff downtown nearly two months ago came from an alleged home burglary that went unnoticed until last week.
Camden police Detective Curt Andrick said a Camden homeowner came to the department last week to report his shotgun was missing. The homeowner checked his firearms after learning police were trying to determine where 34-year-old Robert Beerman of Camden obtained the shotgun he had in his possession.
Beerman shot and killed himself with the shotgun after a seven-hour standoff. The pharmacist was released earlier in the night and was not physically harmed.
The police detective said the home burglary happened within a month before the standoff that began Sept. 16 and lasted until the early morning hours of Sept. 17. That was when the owner last checked the weapon.
Nothing else was reported taken from the home, Andrick said.
The gun’s owner will not get the weapon back because the barrel had been sawed off by Beerman, and possession of a sawed off shotgun is illegal.
Beerman had a history of alcohol abuse and suicide threats.
Beerman most recently had been arrested Aug. 23 for an Aug. 16 nighttime burglary and theft at Cuzzy’s Restaurant on Bay View Street. Police tracked him down after reviewing surveillance tape from the business. In the video, Beerman appeared to be very intoxicated, according to the police affidavit.
When confronted by a Camden officer, he said he would rather kill himself than go back to prison. After his Aug. 23 arrest, he was released on $750 cash bail.