A boy...man with a rifle spotted brandishing a knife near a immigrant community center in El Paso was briefly detained and then sent on his merry way. He plans to drive to Portland to decorate the protests there.
Cop — “He has rights.”
“An armed Trump supporter was detained and released by police Wednesday outside a community space for immigrants in El Paso, Texas, days after a mass shooting that killed 22 people at a Walmart in the border town.
Witnesses said they called police after Thomas Bartram, 21, made threatening comments to people and brandished a knife while sitting in his truck outside of community center Casa Carmelita. His truck was emblazoned with pro-Trump banners and bumper stickers promoting InfoWars, a far-right conspiracy website and radio show…
...Bartram acknowledged he was legally carrying a pistol but denied waving it around, and said the gloves and knife could be explained. “I was eating prickly pears,” he said. The white powder was a protein supplement, Bartram said he takes along with other Alex Jones’ branded nutritional supplements.
Bartram is no longer in El Paso but on his way to Portland, Oregon, to attend a protest that local officials have warned is expected to turn violent…
...Ana Deveze, of Casa Carmelita told NBC News that police also recovered a loaded gun, ammunition and a bag of white powder from the man's truck. She said people at the community center are still “terrified” and “frustrated.” Deveze said El Paso police officers were confrontational with the witnesses and eventually told them Bartram hadn’t broken any laws.
“He has rights,” Deveze said police told her.”
I know you can carry whatever you want in Texas, brandishing a knife seems to me to be breaking some laws.
I guess its OK if you are a white supremacist Trump loving idiot.
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[cross-posted to PolitiZoom]