A Virginia man was arrested after he pointed an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at a group of five men for nearly five minutes. He was upset the group—four Black and one White man—were in his neighborhood.
Brandon Foster, one of the bikers, captured the entire incident on video.
The men try to tell the armed man they are not on his private property—they are on the road for the cul-de-sac neighborhood he lives in. They also repeatedly tell him they are unarmed and he could have just asked them to leave instead of coming out with the AR-15 pointed at them the entire time.
About halfway through the video, Foster was exasperated by the whole thing—given the current cultural climate—as the man would not consider lowering his gun and kept saying he would shoot them.
"Parked my bike over here to take a break real quick, got a White guy out here pointing a gun at four Black men."
In the accompanying Facebook post, Foster explained that he and four friends spent the Sunday evening riding around the Spotsylvania area where they live and where three of the five men grew up.
His caption read:
"Here is the video for everybody to see. It isn't edited in any way. Myself, 3 other friends on bikes and one in a car were riding around on Sunday, June 14."
"We pulled into the neighborhood where 3 of the guys grew up and stopped at the cul-de-sac to stretch and plan our route home. This guy came walking down his driveway with his weapon aimed at us the entire time."
"Police were called and he has been arrested for brandishing. Be careful out there. Its a crazy world we live in."
They pulled into a nearby neighborhood, Whelan Ridge Estates, to take a break and plan their route home when the White, gun-toting homeowner appeared.
The video began rolling when the gun was already out, and the gunman was making his trespassing claims.
"It says no trespassing, you could see it when you came in...You think I'm f***in with you?"
When one of the motorcyclists responds, the gunman doubled down.
"I'll shoot you first."
One of the riders responds:
"I used to live down the street, so why are you pointing a gun at us?"
One also said:
"None of us have any weapons or anything to threaten your life, but you're pointing a gun at us that's probably loaded."
According to both Foster and the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office, who released a statement following the incident, the police arrived shortly after the video ended.
They stressed that while the Whelan Ridge Estates development is a private property, none of the men were ever on the private property of the man with the firearm. This is why the man was arrested.
It is illegal to brandish firearms at people because you think they do not belong in your neighborhood.
The man with the gun, identified by police as Dennis Lee Berry, was charged with five counts of brandishing a firearm. Police also seized the AR-15 rifle. Berry was released on a $5000 bond.
Foster later updated his original Facebook post.
Clearly, some comments had taken an aggressive turn.
"WE ALSO WOULD LIKE EVERYBODY TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE DO NOT AND WILL NOT CONDONE ANY THREATS OF VIOLENCE, PROTESTING OR NEGATIVITY TOWARDS THIS INDIVIDUAL OR FAMILY. WE ARE LETTING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM DO WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO."
"THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYBODY THAT HAS REACHED OUT AND CONTINUES TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS."
People on Facebook were amazed at how composed the victims remained.
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Hillary Jeanie/Facebook
Sarah Fitz/Facebook
When other outlets picked up the story, Twitter weighed in as well.
We wish Mr. Foster and his friends only the calmest, gun-free motorcycle rides for the rest of the summer.
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