Police in Martha’s Vineyard used red flag laws to seize the guns of an 84-year-old Korean War veteran over a comment the man made to a friend at a local diner.
Stephen Nichols was meeting with Edgartown resident Andy Marcus at Linda Jean’s diner in Oak Bluffs a couple of weeks ago when he mentioned that Tisbury School resource officer Scott Ogden often leaves his post as kids arrive to drink coffee at Xtra Mart, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times.
Nichols, who works as the school’s crossing guard, told his friend someone could “shoot up the school” in Ogden’s absence and criticized the officer for “leaving his post.” Those comments apparently unnerved a waitress at Linda Jean’s, who contacted the police to tattle on the elderly U.S. Army veteran.
The server’s complaint was apparently enough to convince Tisbury Police Chief Mark Saloio to remove Nichols from his crossing guard duties, revoke his license to carry a firearm, and seize all of his guns at his home. Nichols was not armed at the diner or during his duties at the school.
Saloio and another officer physically removed the old man and took him to his house to seize his guns.
“He came up and told me what I said was a felony but we wasn’t going to charge me,” Nichols said. – READ MORE