A counter-protester has pulled a gun on a Black Lives Matter demonstrator during a clash outside the Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee.
The dramatic moment occurred at the end of a BLM rally tonight, during which supporters called for an end to systemic racism following the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
A female demonstrator was filming the end of the event on Instagram Live, before she caught the shocking incident on camera.
Her video shows a fight breaking out between a group of BLM supporters and the counter-protester – who is white, middle-aged and dressed in a checked blue shirt.
One person in the crowd is seen punching the man who then draws a handgun from his jeans and points it at directly at a BLM demonstrator who sits on his knees with his hands in the air.
‘Ah, he has a gun!’ the woman filming screams as she records the man waving the weapon around.
Thankfully, there was a heavy police presence on the scene, and an officer quickly ran in armed with his own gun to restrain the man.
About half a dozen police were then seen trying to clear the scene before they took the man into custody.
Adam Ferguson, who identified himself as the man who the counter-protester pointed the gun at, said the man instigated the fight when he shoved a female protester.
When another protester shoved him back, the counter-protester threw a punch that hit Ferguson’s girlfriend.
Ferguson said he joined the fray and began punching the counter-protester, who drew his weapon.
As soon as the man brandished the gun, Ferguson dropped down in the grass in front of the Old Capitol building with his hands held above his head.
“It was all just 60 seconds but it felt much longer,” he told the Tallahassee Democrat. “I don’t know why he would bring violence to a peaceful protest, when he pulled the gun out it all went rank.”
Another protester tweeted about the aftermath.
“I really ran for my life as a white man pulled out a gun at a Tallahassee protest today,” another protester tweeted. “I can’t stop crying… Please be safe everyone.“
According to local photojournalist, Alicia Devine Wallace, there was also a separate demonstration occurring outside the Florida Capitol where people were calling for the full re-opening of Florida.
It is not believed the gunman belonged to that group.
Clashes between BLM supporters and counter-protesters have been occurring across the country, and have turned deadly.
On Tuesday night, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot dead two white Black Lives Matter supporters with an AR-15 style rifle during a clash in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The city had been the center of several nights of rioting, arson and looting following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
To some, Rittenhouse is a domestic terrorist whose very presence with a rifle incited the protesters.
But to a handful of others – who have become frustrated with demonstrations and unrest across the country – he is seen as a hero who took up arms to help people who were left unprotected.
As they have in other cities, rallies devolved into violence and vandalism at some points, and the National Guard was called in.
The commander of the force said on Friday that more than 1,000 guard members have been deployed, and more are on the way.
The protests in Kenosha are the latest to erupt during a reckoning over policing and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police earlier this year.