Academy Sports And Outdoors

Today, Sunday, January 29, 2023, at approximately 4:00 p.m., I was shopping inside the store, located at 21351 Gulf Freeway, Webster, Texas 77598.

I was with my two sons (who are in their 20s) and my brother. We were shopping for an airsoft gun. My brother and I began browsing ammunition one isle over, while my sons continued checking out airsoft guns.

Suddenly, I heard a very loud and very aggressive police-like command, "PUT THE GUN DOWN AND WALK AWAY!" There was a brief pause, and then the same voice repeated the command again in the same manner.

This was quite startling to me, and I believed there was an active shooter type of scenario possibly unfolding. I am a former law enforcement officer with 15 years of experience and active shooter training.

I quickly discovered my son(s) dry fired an airsoft gun, and an employee out of view of them and working behind the firearms counter had apparently heard the sound and began yelling at them across the store.

I instructed my sons to put the air soft gun away, and I then approached the gun counter. I asked who was yelling at my family. At first, no one answered. Then, I asked again, and one of the employees admitted he did. He was an older "mature-aged" white male (maybe late 50s or so), with white hair. I did not get his name.

He spoke aggressively and angrily to me and said he yelled at my son because he (my son) dry fired an airsoft gun. I told him he did not need to be yelling like that across the store and at my family, who he could not even see. I told him he could have simply informed them of the store policy, and they would happily comply instead of startling people and embarrassing us. It was highly inappropriate.

I told him we were not aware of any "no dry fire policy", and there was no need to treat us in such a manner. He responded with a raised voice and wide-eyed, "Well, if a BB comes my way, I'm returning fire!"

(Airsoft BBs are plastic!)

I had not realized he was armed and found this comment to be alarming and extremely threatening and violent.

My oldest son and I then confronted him about threatening us with deadly violence, but he continued speaking in a provocative manner to us. Then, another employee approached the threatening employee and convinced him to disengage, which he reluctantly did. Thankfully, this de-escalated the incident. Before walking away, I stated to him again, "You are expected to be a professional! This was not, at all, professional. Be a professional!"

I then collected my family and went to the front of the store and requested the store manager to report the incident.

A gentleman named "Nathan" responded and met with me briefly at the front of the store, stating he is the store manager.

I asked Nathan if he heard the disruption or if he was aware of it, and he stated he had not heard anything and that no one had reported anything. I then explained the incident in detail.

Nathan stated the employees behind the gun counter are not armed and should not speak to us in that manner, nor should they ever threaten to shoot us.

I explained to Nathan I thought he should be aware of what happened and should investigate and address it and that I intended to file a formal complaint.

Nathan acknowledged that some of the airsoft gun boxes are opened, and people freely handle them while unattended by staff. He further affirmed no one should be dry firing the airsoft guns. I informed him we were simply unaware and that there is no signage posted related to that policy.

Ramp leading into store is painted and becomes slippery when wet. One does not realize the ramp is painted because it is painted gray and blends in with gray concrete both before and after ramp. When it rains, the ramp becomes slippery or not paint the ramp at all. They should put grit in the paint to keep it from getting slippery. They also should paint it a different color than the concrete so you realize you are about to step on a painted surface. My client slipped and fell on this ramp because of these problems. www.callthelaw.com