Kenneth Justesen faces charges for allegedly brandishing a gun and threatening patrons at a Wilton Manors gay bar. – Photo: Wilton Manors Police Department, via WSVN.
A drunk man was arrested after flashing a gun and threatening to shoot people outside a gay bar in Wilton Manors, Florida.
The incident occurred last Friday outside Gym Bar, a gay bar in the 2200 block of Wilton Drive.
“He was cursing and started threatening people that he lost his cellphone and lost whatever he lost,” said Andy, a patron who confronted the drunk man when he began threatening a group of women.
“I just told him…to get away, and then he brought his attention to me, and then I screamed at him,” Andy told South Florida-based Fox News affiliate WSVN.
Video taken from Friday night shows the suspect staggering around, heckling people while smoking a cigarette.
“The gentleman had lost his phone and he was really upset about it, and he started making threats that if he found the person with his phone, he was gonna put a bullet in the back of his head,” said witness Anthony Robinson.
The man eventually got into an argument and pulled out a gun, prompting patrons to call 911.
“He started calling out [another patron by] his name, ‘You that, you this,’ all these names,” Robinson said. “The guy stood up in defense of being called names and that’s when the guy with the gun pulled out the gun and held it back, and the other guy just pulled himself back. He knew that if he egged this guy on, in his mind, he had the right to use his gun.”
Police arriving on scene observed the man, later identified as 45-year-old Kenneth Justesen, of Oakland Park, complaining about his lost phone and threatening people. Officers arrested Justesen, placing him in handcuffs and confiscating his gun.
According to a police report, the firearm was loaded and had one round in the chamber and an additional eight rounds in the magazine. Luckily, no one was injured in the incident.
Justesen has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, improperly displaying a firearm, and using a firearm while under the influence. He has since been released on bond.
“I didn’t notice he had a gun behind him, because he was trying to make me hit him first,” said Andy. “Luckily I was sober, because I was driving. I didn’t take his bait. You know, I didn’t take his bait because I know better.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has released a commercial attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential political rival, by encouraging Floridians to move to California if they dislike the right-wing agenda being pursued by Florida lawmakers.
In a 30-second spot that began airing on Monday, Newsom tells Floridians that freedom is "under attack in your state," courtesy of Republican lawmakers.
He cites laws that have been passed banning all abortions after 15 weeks, restricting mail-in voting and prohibiting the practice of handing out food or water to people waiting in line to vote.
Researchers from Yale are slamming a report from Florida health care officials that takes a hardline stance against the use of Medicaid dollars to pay for gender-affirming care, claiming the 48-page report is biased, unscientific, flawed, and -- above all -- politically motivated.
The analysis, published earlier this month by a group of seven scientists and a Yale law professor, highlights what it says are major deficiencies in a June 2 report released by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration.
In their analysis, the researchers found that the AHCA report "ignored accepted scientific studies and consensus acknowledging gender dysphoria and the medical therapies effective in treating it," and cites sources that are neither published nor peer-reviewed, or that have no scientific merit, including an opinion letter to the editor and a student blog.
A Florida teenager has been accused of fatally shooting a fellow 19-year-old, with whom he was involved in an "online relationship," in order to avoid being outed as gay.
Jakari Webb, who is being held without bail in the Volusia County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder, was arrested on June 29 for allegedly shooting Telan Mann in Daytona Beach on June 23. Webb has also been charged with violating probation and resisting arrest.
Mann was an openly gay individual who allegedly was involved in an "online relationship" with Webb, Daytona Police Chief Jakari Young said in a news conference following the arrest. Young explained that Webb was worried that Mann "either had or was going to post something on social media that would out him," according to Newsweek.
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