Florida man walks into a gay bar with a hand grenade… only to be confronted by a former Marine
Local10, “He showed me a grenade. He said, ‘Don’t be scared.’ It kinda freaked me out a little bit.”Other witnesses have confirmed the man pulled out what appeared to be a grenade.Related: Wilton Manors Pride truck tragedy: Victims and driver, 77, all members of Gay Men’s ChorusShakespeare says the safety of his customers was paramount in his mind.
He attempted to joke with the man to diffuse his apparent anger.“I was just thinking, stay calm, because we have a lot of people in there, and this is our community, so I want to keep everybody safe.”A former Marine drinking in the bar overheard what was going on and decided to intervene.“He was agitated at somebody in the bar, looking to pick a fight,” Darrell Darling said. “He had shown me a grenade immediately as I walked up.
It looked real.”Darling kept the man occupied while other patrons quietly exited the bar. Darling was aware the bartender had called the bar owner, who called the police.
He then persuaded the man to leave the bar with him so they could hang out and continue their conversation. He said they bonded by talking about military and police service.Once they stepped out of the bar, Darling wrestled the man to the ground.“He could be a threat — I don’t know how he’s feeling, so I grabbed one hand, swept his full leg out and just put my full weight on the back of his body so he could not get up,” Darling said.Police then descended and took the man into custody.
