A Georgia man who said he’s a Vietnam veteran walked into an Army recruiting station openly displaying a handgun, saying he did so to keep recruiters “on their toes.” He was promptly arrested.
Harry Tracey, 72, was taken into custody outside the Conyers, Georgia, Army recruitment office and booked on charges of carrying a weapon into a federal government office.
Police say Mr. Tracey went into Army office last week and began to ask one of the recruiters strange questions. The recruiter became alarmed when he noticed Tracey had a handgun in the waistband of his pants. As Conyers police Marshall Thompson noted in his report:
“He asked if he felt safe, if he was armed and if he could protect himself against an attack like the one that happened in Chattanooga, He told me the subject (Tracey) did not like his answer.”
Tracey is just the latest in a group of citizens— including one man who accidentally discharged his AK-47 outside of a recruiting station in Ohio–who have become unnaturally fixated on the possibility of future shootings at recruitment centers after the one which took place in Chattanooga. Five lives were lost in the Chattanooga shooting.
The military has repeatedly asked that armed citizens to stay away from the recruitment centers and reminded people that anyone with such a weapon is considered a threat and will be taken into custody by police if they attempt to enter the office.
Mr. Tracey is being held in the Rockdale County jail on $7.000 bond.
