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Missouri Man Arrested For Allegedly Pointing Gun At Pro-Life Protester

Missouri Man Arrested For Allegedly Pointing Gun At Pro-Life Protester

Newborn_Baby | Circa October 2015 | Mindy Olson P mindyop via Wikimedia Commons

Authorities arrested a Springfield, Missouri, man Saturday for allegedly pointing a gun at a pro-life protester outside an abortion clinic in Granite City.

“This wasn’t just a guy who had a rifle, he pointed it at me,” said pro-life protester John Ryan, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday. “I see the barrel of the rifle pointing at me … I backed up a few steps, walked back across the street and called the cops.”

Ryan was protesting outside of Granite City’s Hope Clinic for Women and says he approached a car to hand out “Defenders of the Unborn” flyers when the man in the vehicle pointed a rifle at him.

The accused, 27-year-old Kevin M. Brooks, claims he didn’t do anything wrong.

“I didn’t point a gun at anybody,” he said. “All I did was lift [the gun] up so he could see it was there.”

“If I thought I had done something illegal, I could’ve left. I could’ve hid the gun, I could’ve done a number of things. I thought I was well within my rights,” Brooks continued. He claims he had the gun because he didn’t feel safe driving through East St. Louis without a weapon, according to the Post-Dispatch.

The Hi-Point model 995 rifle was “loaded, uncased and immediately accessible,” according to police.

“To say that they found a loaded gun in the car is an absolute lie. The gun was not loaded,” Brooks said, denying the authorities’ statements.

Madison County authorities charged Brooks with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

“The thing we want to stress is that this was an isolated incident and nobody got hurt,” said Detective Lt. Mike Nordstrom.

Brooks called the Post-Dispatch after Madison County Jail released him Tuesday. He faces up to three years in prison if found guilty of the charges brought against him.

Gary Clayton Boyle — a former abortionist at the Women’s Center in Nashville, Tennessee — was arrested in October 2010 for pointing a handgun loaded with 15 rounds at a group of pro-life protesters outside of an abortion clinic in Charleston, South Carolina. Boyle was charged with disorderly conduct and required to pay an $100 fine.

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