Armed Man Arrested at Fla. Military Base

AP | JUL4/03 | Asso Press

[MindBender26]

Armed Man Arrested at Fla. Military Base By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 5:13 p.m. ET

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A man with a loaded handgun and a knife was arrested Friday after he allegedly tried to get through the gate of a military base while asking to see Gen. Tommy Franks.

Todd Christian Wiegler, 31, pulled up in his car to a security checkpoint at MacDill Air Force Base around 8:40 a.m., said Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin.

He apparently told MacDill security guards that he wanted to see Franks, who oversaw the war in Iraq as head of MacDill-based U.S. Central Command.

The guards asked Wiegler to get out of his car and found a loaded Glock handgun on the dashboard, Durkin said. Wiegler also allegedly carried a concealed knife in a sheath.

Tampa police arrested Wiegler on charges of carrying a concealed firearm, a felony, and carrying a concealed knife, a misdemeanor, Durkin said. He was taken to jail pending a court appearance Saturday.

Wiegler did not have a listed phone number. It could not be immediately determined whether Wiegler had a lawyer.

Military officials would not say whether Franks was at the base Friday.

[MindBender26]

Another American Taliban?

[MindBender26]

KniFe

[Arkinsaw]

Another "peace" activist wanting to kill somebody probably, like the Fortuyn killer in the Netherlands.

[MindBender26]

No phone listing in US that name.

[Prince Caspian]

What kind of an idiot would put his loaded handgun on the dash before driving up to the gate? I don't get it.

[MindBender26]

If stupid enough to think he could get into MacDill.....

[MindBender26]

or stoned

[angkor]

"found a loaded Glock handgun on the dashboard ... Tampa police arrested Wiegler on charges of carrying a concealed firearm."

Hard to believe that a gun "on the dashboard" is "concealed."

And the Florida Supreme Court has ruled on that very question in the past.

[cherry_bomb88]

Does anyone else see the irony???? Some liberal whacko has a gun (usually the whackos that get the guns are liberal, not conservative) and now their own will start saying "see, see...guns are bad".

I suppose if his heros are the extremist muslims that promote "peace" he's following their teachings!

[MindBender26]

It's an AP story written by some kid 3 months out of J school, or some old hack between drying-out sessions at Bay Pines! They screwed it up! Nothing new.

[MindBender26]

Oswald, Squeaky Froame, Sara Jane Moore; Liberals all

[holyh2o]

Yep, just request to see America's top brass without any supporting documents and not on the list of visitors,and expect to get in. Sounds like Brother Franks needs to open a can of interrogative whoop ass.

YEEEEHAWWWWWW!!!!!
Semper Fi

[Maria S]

COUNT on TomPeterDanMattetal to put special emphasis on pronouncing this guy's middle name. "Todd Christian Wiegler"

[MindBender26]

Didn't get past the front gate.

Semper Gumby (Always Flexible)

[bruoz]

"Hard to believe that a gun "on the dashboard" is "concealed."

A handgun that is carried in the passenger compartment of a vehicle in Florida must be "securely encased" and not on your person. Unless you have a permit to carry, you can be charged with carring a concealed firearm.

[widgysoft]

don't kill 'No Hands'

[BagCamAddict]

Wiegler, at age 31, looks like he might live with his DAD, Gerald Wiegler. No phone number listed for either of them that I could find.

[Forseti]

Probably just a nutcase (the mentally disturbed kind, not the political kind). Anyone with full control of their falculties would know you can't just drive up to a militry base and ask to speak to a general.

[John H K]

It's not a "dry run" if you call attention to yourself and get arrested.

Probably about 90% likely this is another mental case.