Tech student arrested at Wal-Mart
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Hunter07
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Post subject: Tech student arrested at Wal-Mart  Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:26 pm |
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Quote: Tech student arrested at Wal-Mart
Text message about gang violence stokes concerns over student's gun
Nick Todaro, Reporter
03-19-2009
A Louisiana Tech student involved with a campus gun rights organization was arrested at Wal-Mart on Wednesday night.
Alfred Saurage, a vocal supporter of Rep. Ernest Wooton’s bill for allowing students to carry concealed weapons on campus, is a senior in mechanical engineering at Tech. He has said he openly wears a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol when out and about in Ruston.
The gun drew unwanted attention Wednesday from store workers and members of the public at Wal-Mart, partly because of a separate report of impending gang-related gun violence at the store originating from text messages.
Ruston Police were called to the scene.
Capt. Kevin Peden said store management asked Saurage to remove his gun and put it in his car because he was scaring customers and workers. He refused. Louisiana law empowers the public display and carrying of firearms.
“Store management advised the Ruston Police officers that a text message was going around about a person that was going to enter Wal-Mart and kill two women employees,” Peden said in a release. “At this time, it is not known from where the texts originated.”
Officers approached Saurage and asked him to leave the store. He refused again.
He was arrested on a charge of entry or remaining in a place after being forbidden, and bond was set at $1,000.
“According to Louisiana law, it is legal to wear an exposed firearm so long as it does not create a disturbance or alarm any persons,” Peden said. “Mr. Saurage was obviously creating a disturbance and causing a great deal of concern in the store, to the point of customers approaching officers as they arrived. The store was well within its rights to ask Mr. Saurage to leave the store and not return to the store unless he was unarmed.”
Police are investigating the text messages, Peden said, in relation to reports of text messaging hoaxes at Wal-Mart stores in Delware and Maryland. Investigators in those states have been inundated with calls regarding a text message that has been circulating, warning of an alleged gang initiation in which women will be killed in Wal-Mart. It has been dismissed as an urban myth.
The text message in that area reportedly read: "i don't noe how tru dis is but here it is. Dont go 2 any walmarts 2nite ther will be a gang initiation n dey have 2 kill 3 women at each store. Tell ur love 1s.”
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Binky .357
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:08 pm |
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I could almost put my support behind this guy if I hadn't read the following part of the article:
Quote: Capt. Kevin Peden said store management asked Saurage to remove his gun and put it in his car because he was scaring customers and workers. He refused. Louisiana law empowers the public display and carrying of firearms.
“Store management advised the Ruston Police officers that a text message was going around about a person that was going to enter Wal-Mart and kill two women employees,” Peden said in a release. “At this time, it is not known from where the texts originated.”
Officers approached Saurage and asked him to leave the store. He refused again. Sure, I don't think we as carriers should be persecuted for taking common-sense measures to protect ourselves and our loved ones, but if a company tells me to leave, I will... and I'll never be back to any of their stores.
It also seems to me that as the law is written in MN he would in fact be guilty of tresspass for not leaving after a lawful request to do so.
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Jai9100
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:44 pm |
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Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:17 pm
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Location: Waconia, MN
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Hmm, what a coincidence. I'm a mech. eng. who carries a .45 also.
Then again, I don't support his decision to "refuse" at all.
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mrokern
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:07 pm |
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Location: Eden Prairie
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Jai9100 wrote: Hmm, what a coincidence. I'm a mech. eng. who carries a .45 also.
Then again, I don't support his decision to "refuse" at all. Nor do I. They have the right to ask me to leave, and I have the right to take my hard-earned cash elsewhere.
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Lawyer_in_Training
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:36 pm |
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Location: Suburban Twin Cities, MN
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Jai9100 wrote: Hmm, what a coincidence. I'm a mech. eng. who carries a .45 also.
Then again, I don't support his decision to "refuse" at all. Maybe he's willing to be a test case?
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Dee
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Post subject: Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:36 pm |
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Location: Mankato Area
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I think he was wrong to refuse to leave but text messages don't suddenly appear from thin air. They have to come from someone. I think if they make the text message an issue in this case, they should be able to find out who sent it.
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Macx
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:06 am |
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Location: Whittier
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The text message was actually a pretty widespread internent thing. . . kinda like years ago when there was the scare about HIV infected needles on gas pump handles. It popped up a few days ago even on other local boards. . . seems like I saw it on the MNSportBike board. Don't even know if ther text messages were real . . . may have run all it's distance via chain emails.
The idiocy of failing to leave when asked has of course already been mentioned +1.
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Big and Tasty
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:06 am |
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Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:57 pm
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Location: St. Paul
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This guy is an idiot. Classic case of someone that I prefer to "stay off my side."
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jdege
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:09 am |
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mrokern wrote: Jai9100 wrote: Hmm, what a coincidence. I'm a mech. eng. who carries a .45 also.
Then again, I don't support his decision to "refuse" at all. Nor do I. They have the right to ask me to leave, and I have the right to take my hard-earned cash elsewhere. If I'm reading it right, he wasn't charged with carrying, or with disturbing the peace. He was charged with failing to leave after having been ordered to by someone who had the authority to do so.
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JimC
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:41 am |
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Joined: Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:56 pm
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Considering the circumstances at the store, And how the police first asked him to put away the gun, The guy was totally wrong.
He was asking for trouble, and he got it.
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Apdl
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:05 am |
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Location: Burnsville, MN
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when they ask you to leave a private est it is time to go
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jignjam
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:07 am |
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Location: Waconia
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+1 on he should have left
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Andrew Rothman
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:48 am |
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J. R.
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:56 am |
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I don't want to be the test case, but I agree with Andrew's take on this one.
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Nords
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Post subject: Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:05 pm |
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Andrew Rothman wrote: From the article, it appears that THE STORE NEVER ASKED HIM TO LEAVE.
If that's true, the cops have no authority to make him do so, and he appears to have acted within his rights.
The store may not have directly, but if an officer gives you a direct order, and you refuse....
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