A man carrying an AR-style pistol in his backpack was detained by security guards after entering the Hartford headquarters of insurance giant Aetna Thursday morning, according to police.
Officers were dispatched to the Aetna building at 151 Farmington Ave. at approximately 10:05 a.m. to investigate a report of a suspicious man.
According to Hartford police, security guards detained the man within three minutes of him entering the building.
Police took the man into custody and transferred him to police headquarters. The incident is now under investigation by the department's major crimes, crime scene and intelligence divisions.
Police identified the man late Thursday afternoon as Denrey Wadlington, 51. His address was unknown. Wadlington was charged with illegal possession of an assault weapon, possession of a large capacity magazine, criminal possession of a firearm and third-degree criminal trespass.
Court records show Wadlington had at least two prior encounters with Hartford police. Records show he pleaded guilty in 2017 to misdemeanor charges of interfering with an officer and second-degree threatening. He pleaded guilty to a subsequent charge of interfering with an officer and disorderly conduct the following year, records show. He received a jail sentence of one year at the time and was committed to the Department of Correction.
CVS and Aetna merged in 2018 for roughly $70 billion, making the company one of the largest insurance employers in the state.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the company confirmed the incident took place, but didn't respond to additional questions.
"Earlier today, a suspicious person attempted to enter our office, was apprehended immediately by our security team and taken into custody by local police," the spokesperson said.
