New York Daily News – by Blake Alsup
A man at a Walmart in Florida asked if the clerk could sell him “anything that would kill 200 people” on Wednesday night, prompting the release of surveillance photos in an effort to identify him.
The man later was later found and told police he was just trying to make a point.
Philip Attey, a Port St. Lucie native who now lives in Washington, D.C., approached a sales clerk in the sporting goods department at a Walmart in Port St. Lucie.
“Can you sell me anything (or a gun) that would kill 200 people?” he asked.
The clerk responded, “That isn’t funny,” and the man agreed saying, “I know.” He then asked again if they could sell him anything that would kill 200 people.
Philip Attey, a Port St. Lucie native who now lives in Washington, D.C., said he’s a longtime gun violence prevention activist and was trying to make a point. He got mad and confronted the clerk after he saw someone he believed “looked like a white nationalist” purchasing a gun.
He said it was a call for Walmart “to wake up and think about their role in the gun violence toxic climate that we have.”
Police said on Thursday that Attey was located after an anonymous tip identified him and that he was found to not be a threat.
The man also spoke with local NBC affiliate WPTV in Port St. Lucie to explain himself and admitted what he said “was in poor taste.”
On Saturday, 22 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Early the next day, a gunman killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio, renewing call for gun control measures in the U.S.