https://www.wbko.com/content/news/M...-at-Sams-Club-in-Bowling-Green-505971901.html
Man accused of pulling gun on victim wearing MAGA hat
By Darby Beane |
Posted: Sun 6:54 PM, Feb 17, 2019 |
Updated: Sun 7:23 PM, Feb 17, 2019
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -- A Tennessee man is in jail after being accused of pulling a gun on a Sam's Club customer Saturday.
According to the police report, officers were called to Sam's Club due to a person with a gun.
According to the alleged victim Terry Pierce, a man pulled a gun on him because he was wearing a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat.
"I have as much right to wear that hat and support my country and my president as he has not to," said Pierce.
The police report confirms that the suspect, identified as James Phillips, admitted to flipping off Pierce and Pierce's wife because of their hats.
Pierce tells 13 News that he was shopping with his wife when Phillips "Pulled a .40 caliber out and stuck it in my face, backed up and said, 'It's a good day for you to die.'"
Pierce went on to tell 13 News, "I said, 'Then pull the trigger. Put the gun down and fight me or pull the trigger. Whichever one you want.' And he backed up and he said it again, he said, 'It's a good day for you to die.'"
Pierce said the Phillips then took off. That's when Pierce followed him out into the parking lot.
"I went out the front of the store to confront him again and that's when I got him in his car. He couldn't leave because his mother was still in the store. And we were having a verbal altercation outside," said Pierce.
Pierce added, "He tried telling me I assaulted him and I said, 'I never touched you.'"
According to the police report, surveillance video confirms Pierce's story that he did not put his hands on Phillips.
The report does mention that witnesses and Pierce said Phillips pulled a gun on Pierce inside the store but this couldn't be seen on surveillance video due to Phillips backing out of the view of the camera.
In the report, police say Phillips had a Glock .40 caliber with a round chambered in his back pocket and two additional magazines in another pocket. Police say Phillips has a current concealed carry permit in Tennessee, where he is from.
No one was injured, but police arrested Phillips for wanton endangerment first degree. Phillips is in the Warren County Regional Jail.
We will update this story as we learn more.
