Police: Soldier was carrying loaded magazines during rifle-toting incident at mall

[SecularMotion]

FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- The Fayetteville Police Department has charged an Army soldier after getting multiple reports of an armed gunman at Cross Creek Mall Thursday evening.

A huge number of law enforcement officers flooded the mall located off the All American Expressway when 911 calls started coming in just before 6:30 p.m.

On Friday, Fort Bragg officials confirmed the rifle belonged to Wolfinger and was not military issued.

Fayetteville Police spokesman Lt. Todd Joyce confirms Bryan Scott Wolfinger had some loaded high capacity magazines in his bag while he was at the mall. The 25-year-old soldier was carrying an AR-15 rifle, a military ballistic panel carrier and wearing a Kevlar vest.

http://abc11.com/news/man-with-assault-rifle-arrested-at-fayetteville-mall/825699/

[BlueJazz]

1. Seems to me that what he did was perfectly legal. If you have an open carry state..

..That's what you have.

If you freak-out when you see somebody open-carry, then vote better next time.

[benEzra]

12. Not legal in NC. (n/t)

[BlueJazz]

20. That's shows you how much I know about it.

[A Simple Game]

2. He should have had a T-shirt that said "I'm a good guy with a gun"

that would have reassured everyone. Everyone knows that a bad guy with a gun would never lie and say he was a good guy with a gun if caught before starting the slaughter.

If these people are so afraid of going out in public then they should take advantage of the internet and have everything delivered to their homes. Of course that wouldn't last long when the delivery people quit coming to their homes because they greeted them with the barrel of a gun.

Do them a favor and give them the safe haven of solitary confinement for a year, do the rest of us a favor and charge them with a felony and take away their privilege of owning guns.

[secondvariety]

3. The comments

in the article are kind of sad. People who called the cops are "panty waists", "...doesn't seem like a big deal", "I would smile and move on".
I hope this half-wit soldier's MOS isn't anything more crucial or complicated than dishwasher.

[Shamash]

4. Legal, but not very bright

Reading the linked article, he used the weapon as a prop in a photo shoot. Seems to me he should have been bright enough to realize what his getup looked like for walking around in public, though. Should have just stuffed in the duffel bag seen in the article's photo.

Since all the 911 calls happened after the photo shoot, no one saw him go into the mall with the rifle, so maybe it was in the duffel on the way in. Would have to find camera footage to find out.

To his credit, he realized that he was doing something really stupid when the police showed up and he cooperated fully. And for those interested in details, the crime he was charged with is a misdemeanor, so yes he gets to keep being a gun owner even if convicted. However, since he fails to meet the requirements of that law, he will probably be acquitted or the charges dropped.

A person guilty of this offense
(1) arms himself or herself with an unusual and dangerous weapon
(2) for the purpose of terrifying others and
(3) goes about on public highways
(4) in a manner to cause terror to the people

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

7. "going armed to the terror of the public."

IMHO, his charge says something about both him and the state
for creating this law while allowing open carry.

[benEzra]

13. It's a very old law...

and I believe its intent was to regulate the manner of open carry. Of course, given the history of NC gun laws, it was probably written to disallow open carry by people with the the "wrong" amount of melanin in their skin.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

15. Sounds reasonable...

...and completely in keeping with same kind of thinking that would demand bicyclists to signal all turns but keep both hands on the handlebars at all times.

[LynnTTT]

5. Maybe the mall

has rules against firearms? Private enterprises can post rules and those rules can be enforced.

[shedevil69taz]

22. According to the article

The mall does have signs up prohibiting firearms...

[Duckhunter935]

6. I am glad you are on the soldiers side about

the over reaction of some people. I totally agree with your comments on the story in the OP.

I think he could have used better judgment and taken the weapon and empty magazines on a a weapons case to avoid getting arrested. It never said the magazines were inserted. I have loaded magazines in my AR softcase at most times. I do not think he will be convicted of the misdemeanor charge as his intent apparently was never to cause terror which seems to be a requirement.

[Fred Sanders]

8. Soldier a Christian? Then nothing to worry about.....Americans have been well conditioned to have

the right kind of fear of 340 million civilian guns......when they should all be feared.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

11. Wow. Any time ISIS goes out and beheads people or burns them alive you go racing in to the thread

caterwauling that the story is just being sensationalized to stir up Islamophobia. Yet, here you are peddling this anti-Christian bigotry.

You're a hypocritical joke and your smug, self-righteous shtick is wearing thin.

[Locrian]

9. lets compare and contrast

Carry an AR15 and ammo + white = poor decision, everything worked beautifully
Unarmed and black selling cigarettes = dead

Police said Wolfinger apparently came to the mall with the intention of getting his picture taken with the military gear - something police called a "poor decision."

"It was basically a soldier who wasn't thinking," said McCollum. "If you think about it, everything worked beautifully.

[Shamash]

10. I would rather err on the side of tolerance

and treat the black guy like the white guy, instead of the opinion of at least one gun controller that we should do the opposite.

So, again, I say shoot them on sight, let their bodies rot in the streets as a message to other hell-bent gunners.

Fortunately, DU does have limits on how much anti-gun bile it will tolerate and that user is no longer with us. Of course, his two "shoot them on sight" messages both had 1 jury member who apparently thought this sentiment was just fine for a liberal forum...

Fortunately, even our strict gun control types here at DU mostly recognize that open carry being legal is not the issue. Local reaction and local police reaction varies from place to place as well.

[benEzra]

14. The guy who was killed for selling loose cigarettes was killed in New York City, not in an NC mall.

I'm pretty sure that if you were walking around with a modern-looking rifle in New York City, you'd be put in a chokehold too...or worse.

A lot of that goes to the difference between NYC's philosophy of government, and the rest of the nation's. We don't have "stop and frisk" here either, and people don't get put in chokeholds for selling fricking cigarettes.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

16. Please don't disrespect Mr Bloomberg's private army n/t

[Shamash]

19. Unfortunately, not hyperbole

The NYC police budget is about 4.8 billion dollars per year, which if it were a military budget would place it in the global ranking as:

#41 Switzerland (4.83 billion)
#42 New York City (4.8 billion)
#43 Malaysia (4.7 billion)

But, it's de Blasio's private army now, not Bloomberg's.

[Eleanors38]

18. Check out Hewey P. Newton Gun Club. These guys must have fallen between the cracks.nt

[the band leader]

21. resisting arrest=very poor decision.

[Eleanors38]

17. In Austin, I was escorted to the gun section of Academy Sports and Outdoors...

when I came in with a opened-breached double barrel. It was legal (and has been for years in Texas), but the store employee said someone complained. I was getting a slip-on recoil boot, and had to try on a bunch before finding one that would fit a Stevens 311D. Should have left the barrel assmb in the van, but I was thinking gun shop in the 1950s.