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Warren teen accused of pointing b.b. gun at man, son in drive-thru
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Bralin Wright, 17, of Douglas Street Northwest was charged with misdemeanor aggravated menacing and released to his father Thursday evening after police said he pointed a BB gun at a man and his son in the drive-thru lane at the McDonald’s on South Street.
Three other males, all 17 or 18 years old and from Warren, were in the car with Wright, but all were released without being charged. Wright’s charges will be filed in juvenile court.
The victim in the incident, who is from Southington, told police the car containing the four teens was in front of him in the drive-thru, but it didn’t move forward, so the man used his horn.
The incident occurred at 4:59 p.m.
The man said he could see a male in the back seat “lift up a gun.” Then, “A second male on the driver’s side then stuck a gun out the window and pointed the gun back toward him.” The man told his son, 11, to “get down.”
The man got the license-plate number of the teens’ car and gave it and the car’s description to the 911 operator.
A Warren police officer spotted the car on Dana Street Northeast and made a traffic stop, with the driver pulling over in the parking lot of a business on North Park Avenue.
The officer yelled for the four males to raise their hands and waited for another officer to arrive.
“I then opened the driver’s door and stated, ‘Question: Is there a gun in this car?’ The driver stated ‘BB gun.’”
The car’s occupants were removed, and two BB guns were found under the driver’s seat.
Police reviewed the video from the McDonald’s, and it showed Wright pointing a chrome pellet gun toward the victim’s truck, police said. Other charges could still be filed, police said in the report.
Police and the victim said the BB gun that was pointed at the man and his son did not have an orange tip indicating that it is a toy, and the incident could have ended tragically.
“It looked like a 9 millimeter to me,” the victim said of a type of handgun. “I had my son in the truck. I don’t need him getting shot.”
“My concern is if I had my concealed-carry permit on me, I’d have shot at them. It could have been a bad situation. I could have fired and hit a couple of them,” the victim told police.