A Salem Manager Walked to Her Car. A Gunman Was Waiting.
A Dunkin' manager leaving work with the day's deposit was forced into her own car at gunpoint in Salem, robbed, and left bound.
Scene imagery is illustrative — not the actual locationAround 1 p.m. one day in early September 2022, a Dunkin' manager in Salem finished her shift and walked out carrying the store's deposit bag, a routine she had likely done many times. Near Linden Street by Forest Avenue, an armed man forced his way into her vehicle.
Holding her at gunpoint, he told her not to look at him, according to police. He drove a short distance, took the deposit bag, and left her bound before fleeing. She was able to get help and report what happened.
Salem police arrested a 26-year-old Salem man within days, and a 33-year-old Marblehead man was charged the following week. Police described the crime as a joint venture, and both men faced charges of armed robbery while masked, carjacking while armed with a firearm, and kidnapping while armed with a firearm.
Seconds versus minutes.
Nobody moves toward danger faster than police. The clock is still the clock.
Until they arrive, you are the plan: distance, locked doors, a phone in hand, training. A Massachusetts license takes months — start before you need it.
Sources: NENA 911 call-processing standard (STA-020.1-2020) · FBI, Active Shooter Incidents 2000–2013 · City of Boston, Boston About Results — BPD Performance Report. Boston's figure is its last published Priority 1 median, call receipt to arrival. Incident timing is from the FBI's study of timed violent incidents. Respect for the officers who answer these calls, always — this is arithmetic, not blame.
This could have been any of us.
The walk from the door to the car is a routine thousands of shift workers and managers do every day, often carrying a deposit, a laptop, or just their keys and phone. It was early afternoon in a residential part of Salem. Predictable routines are exactly what someone watching looks for, and most of us are far more predictable than we think.
The reality most of us never see coming.
Sources: Council on Criminal Justice, Trends in Carjacking · Council on Criminal Justice, Trends in Carjacking · Mass.gov / EOPSS crime data release
What we tell our students.
The transition zones, door to car, car to door, are where a huge share of these crimes happen, and they are also where small habits matter most: vary your routine when you carry anything valuable, scan the lot before you commit, keys ready, phone down, and if a business has you moving deposits, ask for a two-person rule. None of that requires a license; all of it requires deciding your safety deserves ten seconds of attention.
For those who go further, remember the sequence Massachusetts expects: education, then licensing, then ownership, with training, secure storage, and use-of-force law woven through all of it. Our class satisfies the state's training requirement so you can apply, and the licensing process itself takes months, worth knowing before you need to know it.
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