Vigilante faces gun charges in DE (A Must Read Thriller!!!)
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:17 pm
Some people, I tell ya!!!Armed man intervened in fight in parking lot
By TERRI SANGINITI, The News Journal
Posted Friday, January 18, 2008
What started as a road rage incident ended with the arrest of a 58-year-old Brandywine Hundred man on gun charges after he got involved in a fistfight between three men and ordered them to the ground at gunpoint, police said. Gregg N. Lynch, of the 100 block of Murphy Road, was released on $20,500 unsecured bail Wednesday after being charged with felony aggravated menacing, possession of a firearm during a felony, carrying a concealed deadly weapon and disorderly conduct.
The three men involved in the fight were not immediately charged, Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh of the Delaware State Police said. "It's still an active case under investigation," Whitmarsh said Thursday. It all started at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot outside Dick's Sporting Goods in the Brandywine Town Center, where the occupants of two cars each claimed the others cut them off. The three occupants -- two teenage boys and a 27-year-old man -- stopped and got into an argument that turned physical. Shoppers called state police.
Before troopers could arrive, Lynch pulled up in a pickup, brandished a Glock 9 mm pistol and ordered the trio to "get to the ground," police said in court records. One of the victims got on his cell phone and told the gunman he was calling police. Another asked if "he was a police officer and if he had ID," according to court records. "I have every right to have a gun," Lynch replied, according to the records. "I don't have to show you anything."
Troopers who arrested Lynch said he didn't have that right because his life was not in danger. Troopers said they found the unloaded Glock, an unloaded 9 mm Baretta pistol and a loaded .22-caliber revolver during a search of his truck. Lynch said he had a permit to carry the weapons, but couldn't produce one, Whitmarsh said. "If you're going to carry a concealed weapon, you're required to keep your paper with it," he said. Lynch was arrested last year on charges of aggravated menacing, but the charges were dropped, court records show. Whitmarsh said a woman who witnessed the incident was left shaken.
"The witness was clear that Lynch pointed a gun at the victims and ordered them to the ground," he said. "Lynch claimed he never pointed the weapon at the victims." Whitmarsh said Lynch's brandishing of a gun implied he was going to use deadly force.
"If he's threatening someone to comply or face deadly force, then he himself has to be threatened with serious bodily injury or death, or be in fear that someone else will face seriously bodily injury or death," he said. Lynch never claimed that he was making a citizen's arrest and made no mention of holding the men at bay until police arrived, Whitmarsh said.
