Walmart Shopper Showed Pulling Out a Gun in Dispute Over Face Masks

By Sarada Davis Jul 15 2020, 22:34 PM EDT

Wal Mart Bucks Retail Downward Trend And Post Increase In January Sales — Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A recently released security footage from a Walmart shopping center in Florida showed a male shopper pointing a gun inside the store over the weekend.

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the shopper pulled out his gun following a dispute over wearing a face mask. Officials say the man was seen pushing a companion in a wheelchair inside the store.

The man in the wheelchair did not wear a mask. While he was shown covering his mouth with a red handkerchief, his nose was left exposed.

Another Walmart shopper, who was wearing a mask and holding a young girl's hand, approached the suspect and his companion.

It is unclear what both parties talked about, but security footage later showed the suspect flipping the man and child his middle finger. The maskless shopper pulled out a handgun from his waistband and pointed the weapon towards the man. According to Fox News, the unnamed suspect threatened to shoot the concerned shopper inside the Walmart store.

The young girl tried to pull her companion away from the suspect. Another masked shopper stepped in to intervene.

The suspect and his companion left the store in a white Chevy Equinox. He has since been identified. He is said to be cooperating with the investigation, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Florida Costco Shopper

Florida man at Fort Myers Costco in "Running the World Since 1776" shirt flips out on elderly woman who asked him to wear a mask and man who defended her #BecauseFlorida (via @profjaffar) pic.twitter.com/PDOvi33qHK — Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 7, 2020

On Monday, a video circulating on Twitter showed a man shouting at an elderly Costco shopper after asking him to wear a mask.

The man in the video was identified as a salesman at Tedd Todd Insurance, Daniel Maples. In an interview with Fort Myers News-Press, he revealed receiving hundreds of threatening messages, with some aimed at his son's life. He also said other users published his home address online.

Maples said he did not like wearing a mask because it made him claustrophobic and caused a lot of distress. He also said the video recording did not show a part of the interaction between him and the man who took and released the footage.

He was fired from his job following the incident.

Florida's COVID-19 Cases

On Wednesday, Florida has surpassed 300,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Data collected by Johns Hopkins University showed the recent surge of infection placed the state behind California and New York in the total number of cases it has reported.

Health officials recorded 10,181 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with 112 additional deaths. It was the third time the state reported more than a hundred deaths in the past week.

The state is also running out of beds in intensive care units. Over 54 hospitals across the state now have zero available beds in the ICU, including the ten medical facilities in Miami-Dade. Another 40 hospitals have less than ten percent bed availability, NBC News reports.

Florida's health department has logged more than 77,000 cases in the last seven days, bringing its toll to 301,629.