Clarence Daniels was going to the store to grab some coffee creamer for his wife when he was taken down by another customer. (Photo: Fox)
Guns dot com (suggested by George Jefferson)
A man was arrested and charged with battery after he tackled a customer in a Brandon, Florida, Walmart Tuesday morning over what was later learned to be a legally carried handgun.
Michael Foster, 43, was in the store’s parking lot just before noon when he noticed Clarence Daniels, 57, take a handgun from his car and place it in a holster on his hip beneath his coat. But rather than calling the police, Foster followed Daniels into the store where he came at him from behind, put him in a chokehold and wrestled him to the ground, a local Fox affiliate reported.
All the while, Foster was yelling out that the man had a gun, but Daniels was yelling out as well, saying that he had a permit to carry the gun.
Witnesses separated the two men and kept them apart until sheriff’s deputies arrived a short time later.
Authorities confirmed that Daniels did, in fact, have a concealed carry permit and was carrying his handgun legally.
“Unfortunately he tackled a guy that was a law-abiding citizen,” Hillsborough County Sheriff ‘s spokesman Larry McKinnon told the Tampa Bay Times of Foster. “We understand it’s alarming for people to see other people with guns, but Florida has a large population of concealed weapons permit holders.”
Foster was arrested and charged with battery. Authorities said part of the problem laid in the fact that Foster never called the police or alerted the store’s security to what he perceived as a possible threat.
