A man drove up to a U.S. Air Force base in Florida and demanded entry while an AR-15 rifle and loaded magazines were in the trunk of his car, federal prosecutors said.
He refused to identify himself to security personnel who stopped him at the gate of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa on Nov. 3, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
The 33-year-old Tampa resident called himself “Captain America” and said he had to meet with a U.S. Special Operations Command general “to provide top secret information,” prosecutors said.
While arguing with security personnel, he threatened to return to the base “every day to look for the officers denying him entry,” according to the attorney’s office.
He was handcuffed outside his car as a result of his “suspicious behavior and apparent mental condition,” an affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint says.
When security then searched the trunk of his vehicle, they found the gun and five magazines loaded with 125 rounds of ammunition, according to prosecutors.
The man has been indicted on one count of attempted possession of a firearm at a federal facility in connection with the incident, the attorney’s office announced in a Dec. 19 news release.
Douglas Jordan Stamm, the man’s appointed federal public defender, told McClatchy News on Dec. 19 that he cannot comment on his client’s case as a matter of the policy of the Office of the Federal Defender for the Middle District of Florida.
After the man was detained outside MacDill Air Force Base, he told responding officers from the Tampa Police Department and its behavior health unit “that he has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and takes ADHD medication,” according to the affidavit.
Officers considered him to be in an “extreme state of paranoia and psychosis,” according to the affidavit, and that he was a “possible threat to cause harm to USAF security personnel.”
The government’s indictment seeks the forfeiture of the man’s rifle and ammunition, the attorney’s office said.
If the man is convicted, he could face up to one year in federal prison, according to prosecutors.
MacDill Air Force Base is home to the U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Special Operations Command.
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