CHIPPEWA TWP. — A man carrying a BB gun and wearing a life jacket prompted the evacuation of a Walmart store and a police response.
According to a police report, officers were called April 7 to the Walmart in Chippewa Township for a report of a man carrying a gun. Police said they found Jeffry R. Gonzalez, 20, at the back of the store.
It appeared that Gonzalez was carrying a black gun in his right hand and wearing a bulletproof vest, police said. According to the report, officers ordered Gonzalez to drop the gun and put his hands in the air. Police said he complied, and officers found he was carrying a BB gun and wearing a Sterns Adult Life Vest.
As officers escorted Gonzalez out of the store, they found employees had evacuated shoppers outside, police said. According to the report, the shoppers were “distressed and alarmed, quite frankly, possibly scared for their lives.”
Police said Gonzalez was taken into custody but refused to answer questions posed by police. It is unclear why he was in the store with the BB gun and life jacket.
Gonzalez, of Lawrence, Mass., is charged by Chippewa police with reckless endangerment, harassment, making terrorist threats and disorderly conduct. He was taken to the Beaver County Jail after failing to post a $100,000 bond, records show.