Deputy Alan Gaston walked into an IRS office with a routine question about his taxes and ended up being held at gunpoint by a security guard.
Video captured the moment a white security guard pulled a gun on a black sheriff's deputy in Ohio.
As Lucas County Deputy Alan Gaston walked into an IRS office with a routine question about his taxes, he was stopped by a security guard and told to remove his gun before he could come in the building.
Gaston said he replied that he couldn't do that because he was in uniform, so then he walked away, at which point the guard pulled out his weapon and trained it on the deputy in a moment caught on camera.
Gaston didn't know what to think, he told Inside Edition.
"I'm thinking, 'Wow, this man's gonna shoot me in my back," he said. "... I could hear the anger in his voice."
An IRS employee then called 911 for help, failing to mention the person with a gun is a sheriff's deputy.
"We've got a taxpayer at the IRS office that has a gun and he won't leave the premises," the employee tells the dispatcher in an audio recording of the call. "... He's got a gun and he won't leave."
"Does he have it out?" the dispatcher asks.
"I don't really know 'cause he's out there with the guard," the employee answers.
Gaston said the guard would not let him leave. "I asked him four or five times, 'Move so I can go.' 'No, you're not going anywhere.'"
Eventually, the guard holstered his gun and officers with the Toledo Police Department arrived.
"The police were extremely confused," said Gaston. "... They did ask him, 'You do know he is a full-time deputy sheriff, full uniform?' and he said yes."
The guard was arrested and charged with aggravated menacing. He's pleaded not guilty.
According to the police report, the guard said he had told the deputy "he wasn't allowed to have his weapon on him regardless of his status or position if he was there on personal business."
Now Gaston said he's on medical leave from work due to the trauma of his face-off with the guard.
"We're supposed to be on the same team," said Gaston. "I don't feel like he did anything but ambush me."
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