FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale was acting “irate” before he pulled out a gun and cocked it at his Florida home Sunday, his wife told police.
Body camera footage from Fort Lauderdale police released Monday shows officers responding to Parscale’s home in an upscale neighborhood, where he allegedly threatened to harm himself in a home filled with multiple firearms.
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His wife, Candice, told officers that he was acting “crazy” and “irate," and that she went to the back yard “to let him just like chill out.” She said when he came out of his office and cocked a gun, she decided to go into the front yard.
That’s when, she said, he looked out into the front yard and a “loud boom” followed. She suspected the noise may have been a gunshot.
Warning: This video contains graphic language.
In the video, an officer can be heard making contact with Brad Parscale, who was still at the house, over the phone. The officer asked him to leave the house without a weapon.
In parts of the video, officers can be seen preparing themselves with bulletproof vests and helmets.
Moments later, an officer made contact with Brad Parscale outside his home. Parscale approached an officer, shirtless and with a can in his hand, saying “I’m your friend" and that he wasn’t going to harm anyone.
As Parscale was giving an explanation to one officer, another officer tackles Parscale and at least five other officers help detain him.
As he’s on the floor, he’s heard saying, “I didn’t do anything” several times. He also told police he did not have any weapons on him.
He was hospitalized Sunday under the state’s Baker Act. That act allows anyone deemed to be a threat to themselves or others to be detained for 72 hours for psychiatric evaluation.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told the Associated Press that Brad Parscale is “a member of our family and we love him.”
“We are ready to support him and his family in any way possible," Murtaugh said.
Parscale was demoted from the campaign manager’s post in July but remained part of the campaign, helping run its digital operation. A Trinity University graduate, Brad Parscale was previously based in San Antonio.
Standing 6’8” and with a distinctive beard, Parscale had become a celebrity to Trump supporters and would frequently pose for photos and sign autographs ahead of campaign rallies. But Trump had begun to sour on him earlier this year as Parscale attracted a wave of media attention that included focus on his seemingly glitzy lifestyle on the Florida coast that kept him far from campaign headquarters in Virginia.
Over the summer, he hyped a million ticket requests for the president’s comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that ended up drawing just 6,000 people. A furious Trump was left staring at a sea of empty seats and, weeks later, promoted Bill Stepien to campaign manager.
Parscale was originally hired to run Trump’s 2016 campaign by Jared Kushner, the president’s powerful son-in-law. While the Republican National Committee owns most of the campaign’s data, voter modeling and outreach tools, Parscale ran most of the microtargeted online advertising that Trump aides believe was key to his victory four years ago.
Under the state’s Red Flag Law, officials could ask a judge to bar Parscale from possessing any weapons for up to a year.