STARKVILLE, Miss. — A white Mississippi campground worker who appeared to pull a gun on a black couple in a viral video has turned herself in to face a misdemeanor charge connected to the incident, according to the Starkville Daily News.
The incident happened May 26 at the Kampgrounds of America facility in Starkville.
Update 3:45 p.m. EDT June 4: Records from the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office show Ruby Nell Howell, 70, was arrested Tuesday. The department’s captain of operations, Brett Watson, confirmed Howell was identified by authorities as the woman seen in the May 26 video.
The Daily News reported Howell was charged with a misdemeanor count of threatening exhibition of a weapon. Her bond was set at $500, according to the newspaper. Jail records show she bonded out on the same day as her arrest.
Howell was fired after video of the May 26 incident was posted to Facebook.
Original report: A white campground manager in Mississippi was fired after a video showed the woman pulling a gun on a black couple visiting a lake on the grounds for a picnic Sunday, NBC News reported.
Jessica Richardson, of Macon, Mississippi, who apparently filmed the encounter and posted it to her Facebook page, wrote that she and her husband, a military veteran, had gone to the Kampgrounds of America facility in Starkville with their dog to have a picnic.
"Today was a beautiful day so my husband, our 2-year-old dog, and myself, decided to Google a lake to visit and have a picnic," Richardson wrote on Facebook. "Not five mins later a truck pulls up and a white lady screams at us, she then jumps out of her truck with a gun. And proceeded to point it at the three of us, simply because we didn't make reservations."
The video shows the woman holding a handgun as Richardson spoke, CBS News reported.
Richardson, who told the woman they did not know reservations were needed, tells the woman in the video, "The only thing you had to do is tell us to leave. You didn't have to pull a gun.”
Richardson said in her Facebook post that her husband stopped at the office and said the co-manager of the property -- the woman's husband -- said reservations were not needed for the lake.
A KOA spokesman confirmed to NBC News that reservations were not required, but added that guests must register at the campground's office.
KOA spokesman Mike Gast told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the manager had been fired, adding that the company "does not condone the use of a firearm in any manner" on its properties.
Richardson has not responded to requests for comment made by several media outlets, including CBS News and the AP.
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