On Saturday, a fistfight broke out during a Black Lives Matter demonstration at the Capital building in downtown Tallahassee, Florida. Amid the chaos that was captured on video, a counter-protester pulled out a gun and held a male protester at gunpoint.
The protester had dropped to his knees while holding his hands up in the gesture of surrender when police arrived on the scene. In the video, the counter-protester hands the police his gun and is consequently handcuffed and arrested.
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A witness at the scene said the clash began when a counter-protester became argumentative with protesters and then began documenting the encounter by taking photos of the protesters’ license plates.
As of today, the unidentified man who brandished the weapon and pointed it at the unidentified protester has been released from police custody.
The City of Tallahassee issued a press release today. The statement said that the Tallahassee Police Department had worked with the State Attorney’s Office to review what happened after punches were thrown.
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“The evidence confirmed the physical altercation between numerous protesters and that the individual was knocked to the ground and under attack before lawfully defending himself,” the press release said. “TPD confirmed that the individual with the gun was lawfully carrying a concealed weapon as a license holder.”
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the city’s press release emphasized the fact that the protest was not permitted. The march was organized by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee to bring awareness to police brutality in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the three people who died after being shot by TPD officers this year.
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