SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A man carrying a rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition and wearing body armor was arrested Thursday after walking into a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Springfield, Missouri, police said.
Update 12:12 a.m. Aug. 10: Dmitriy N. Andreychenko, 20, was charged Friday with making a terrorist threat in the second degree, a Class E felony, the Springfield News Leader reported. The charge carries a punishment of up to four years in prison, the newspaper reported.
According to police, Andreychenko said he was testing whether Walmart "honored the Second Amendment."
He allegedly said he was testing whether Walmart "honored the Second Amendment." https://t.co/9f338CV1rz
— News-Leader (@springfieldNL) August 9, 2019
Original report: The 20-year-old man, who was not identified, was detained after arriving at the store wearing a bulletproof vest, military-style clothing and carrying the loaded "tactical rifle," the Springfield News-Leader.
No shots were fired. It was unclear what the man was planning to do inside the store, Lt. Mike Lucas of the Springfield Police Department told The New York Times. After leaving the store, the man was detained by an off-duty firefighter until police arrived, the News-Leader reported.
SPD Arrests Armed Man in Southwest Springfield At approximately 4:10 p.m. Springfield Police Officers were dispatched...
Posted by Springfield, MO Police Department on Thursday, August 8, 2019
Lucas said the man, after walking into the store, was taking video on his cellphone and making comments to shoppers who were fleeing the store, the newspaper reported.
"His intent obviously was to cause chaos here, and he did that," Lucas told reporters.
The 4:10 p.m. incident occurred five days after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. It also happened several hours after a man used a golf cart to scatter customers at a Walmart in Gibsonton, Florida, and a day after a man walked into a Walmart in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and asked for a gun that would "kill 200 people." Also Wednesday, a Walmart in Federal Way, Washington, was evacuated and put on lockdown after a man reportedly entered the store with what appeared to be a gun.
Thursday, Springfield police responded to the Walmart three minutes after a 911 call, the News-Leader reported. A manager at the store pulled a fire alarm, urging customers to leave the store, KYTV reported.
Lucas called the suspect "pretty stoic" when engaged by police, the News-Leader reported.
"His intent was not to cause peace or comfort to anybody that was in the business here," Lucas told reporters. "In fact, he's lucky he's alive still, to be honest."
In a statement, Walmart officials said,"The behavior of a customer was concerning to those inside our store and out of caution, law enforcement was contacted. They quickly arrived, managed the situation without further incident and no one was injured."
The Walmart incidents have raised questions about the retailer's gun policies, according to the Times. About 40 employees at a Walmart in San Bruno, California, staged a protest over the store's gun sales, according to The Washington Post.
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