Last night we told you about Brandon Gillett - he's the municipal court bailiff who was caught on camera brandishing an AR-15 rifle at his grandmother's funeral - right in front of St. Ignatius church. He says he took out the licensed weapon because his mother's siblings were harassing and threatening her - as their mother was being buried.
It's an ugly family dispute - but also a public endangerment - and the commissioner of police - who granted him the license for the assault rifle earlier this year - told us he would move quickly to take away his weapons.
When police went for the guns yesterday afternoon - they saw that the.223 rifle had been modified - which requires special permission. And he didn't have that permission.
So, this morning, Gillett was charged in the Magistrate's Court. Courtney Menzies picks up the story:
On Wednesday he was outside St Ignatius church brandishing a.223 rifle to keep certain family members outside his grandmother's funeral, but today Brandon Gillett paced outside the courthouse awaiting arraignment for five counts of altering a firearm without previous permission.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well I have, I saw the video and I must say your news director sent it to me and I am extremely concerned about it. It is not proper for a licensed gun holder to be brandishing a firearm especially one of that caliber in public and more so in front of a church so I have given instructions to GI3 to go and search his home and retrieve those weapons from there and then we will make whatever effort needs to be done to have those weapons confiscated from him."
And so even though Gillett never pointed the gun at anyone, or discharged it, he was still charged for modifying it.
And in court, Gillett wanted to plead guilty today but he told the judge that he didn't agree with the facts. And so an unequivocal not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
But the bad news is that two days after the grandmother he cared for was buried, Gillet was remanded. So now he will have to spend Christmas behind bars in Hattieville - a most jarring experience for this court bailiff who let his emotions get the better of him when he tried to protect his mother in a family dispute at her mother's funeral.
Gillett is remanded until February of 2024, but can get high court bail before that. He is the owner of two licensed weapons - the AR-15 rifle and a Flock 9mm pistol.
