Man arrested who pointed gun at Columbia protesters near State House, police say
A man was arrested a day after threatening protesters with a gun as he drove by the State House grounds, according to police.
Columbia Police Department charged 64-year-old Walter Peter Matulis Jr. with pointing a firearm.
On Friday, the five year anniversary of the Confederate flag’s removal from the State House grounds, protesters gathered at the capitol to rally against another group that was memorializing the Confederacy.
A group of protesters were standing on the median in Gervais Street across from the State House waving signs at passing cars when they got into a confrontation with a driver at the Main Street stoplight, protesters told The State.
Protester Kamison Burgess said the driver “pulled up sticking his middle finger out.”
“He stopped in the middle of the road at the green light and said ‘All lives matter,’” Burgess said. “One of the girls, she was explaining ‘Yes, all lives matter, but they can’t matter at the moment until Black lives matter.’
“At that point in time, he drove up a little more, the light was still green, and he started fidgeting around inside his car, and he pointed a gun out at us,” Burgess said.
Burgess showed The State video of a white, middle-aged man in a sedan interacting with protesters. What appears to be a gun muzzle can be seen as the car pulls away. Protesters shout, “He’s got a gun.”
Nearby Columbia police officers looked into what was going and the department opened an investigation with officers reviewing the video and looking for the car the man drove.
The Columbia Police Department described the incident similarly to protesters’ accounts in a news release on Saturday. No shots were fired, the department said.
An investigator arrested Matulis at his Gaston home after interviewing him about the incident, the department said. He was booked at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. As of Saturday afternoon, he was still jailed and awaiting a bond hearing.
The department said that the protester’s video aided in the investigation.
Pointing a firearm is a felony. If guilty, Matulis could be sentenced to five years in prison.
Bristow Marchant contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 11, 2020 at 2:11 PM.