A Black couple in Mississippi looking to spend an afternoon outside at a neighborhood lake were in for the fright of their lives after a white women pointed a gun at them and their dog.
The Washington Post reports Franklin and Jessica Richardson had plans to set up a picnic at Oktibbeha County Lake, a popular fishing sport just outside Starkville, Mississippi on Sunday. Within minutes of stepping onto the property, they were confronted by the property manager of the campground.
The elderly white woman parked her truck next to the couple, exited her vehicle and brandished a gun. She ordered the Richardsons to leave the campsite after discovering they did not make a reservation.
In the video Jessica posted to facebook, she can be heard saying: "This lady just pulled a gun because we are out here and don't have reservations.
"The only thing you had to tell us was to leave, we would have left. You didn't have to pull a gun," she said to the aggressor, who was wearing a yellow Kampgrounds of America shirt.
The woman, who is still holding the firearm in her right hand, can then be heard informing the Richardsons they have to leave the property since the campsite is privately owned.
“Well I'm just telling you you need to leave because it's under private ownership," she said before finally putting the gun in her short pocket. "Y’all just can’t be out here. KOA won’t let you."
Per The Post, the confrontation allegedly began over mix-up about if the picnic spots by the lakefront were public or privately owned.
Speaking with WCBI on Tuesday, Jessica said she was confused at to what she, her husband and dog could have done that would have justified a gun being pointed at them.
"Time stopped. Everything stopped. I was confused as to what was going on. It's not like we posed a threat to anybody out there walking our dog. There's nothing harmful about that."
Her husband, Sgt. Franklin Richardson, had just returned from a nine-month stint in the Middle East with The Army National Guard and compared the two scenarios to WCBI.
"It's kind of crazy. You go over there and don’t have a gun pointed at you, and you come back home and the first thing that happens is you have a gun pointed at you. It’s kind of crazy to think about," Franklin explained.
As for the unidentified woman in the video, a spokesperson for Kampgrounds of America confirmed to NBC News that she has been fired in the wake of this incident.
"Kampgrounds of America does not condone the use of a firearm in any manner on our properties or those owned and operated by our franchisees," the representative said Wednesday. "The employee involved in the incident has been relieved of her duties."
