Armed man wearing body armor walks into Walmart, calls it a “social experiment”
By mbrooks on August 10, 2019
By Matthew Brooks
A man in Missouri walked into a Walmart and caused a panic on Thursday. The man was wearing body armor and was openly carrying a rifle and a handgun.
The man, Dmitriy Andreychenko, claims he was conducting a” social experiment,” police say.
“I wanted to know if that Walmart honored the Second Amendment,” Andreychenko told investigators, according to a probable cause statement.
Police Lt. Mike Lucas told CNN that the man caused a panic.
“His intent was not to cause peace or comfort to anybody that was in the business,” Lucas said. “In fact, he’s lucky to be alive still, to be honest.”
Panic ensued.
A Walmart manager pulled the fire alarm to alert the customers.
Crowds fled from the store.
An 0ff-duty firefighter detained Andreychenko until law enforcement arrived, the Springfield, Missouri police said.
Police officers fired no shots in the incident. Andreychenko reportedly fired no shots as well.
The man is being held on charges of making a terrorist threat in the second degree, the police said in a statement.
The Springfield police explained in a statement what a terrorist threat in the second degree entails.
“A person commits the crime of making a terrorist threat in the second degree when he recklessly disregards the risk of causing the evacuation of any portion of a building and knowingly communicates an express or implied threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life or knowingly causes a false belief or fear that an incident has occurred or that a condition exists involving danger to life.”
Andreychenko allegedly walked armed into a Walmart less than a week after twenty people were killed in the area of an El Paso, Texas Walmart.
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