Fort Lauderdale police confiscated 10 guns Sunday from the home of President Trump’s senior campaign advisor after his wife told them he was suicidal, hits her, and racked and loaded a handgun during an argument.
Brad Parscale, 44, was involuntarily hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act by officers and taken to Broward Health Medical Center Sunday after barricading himself in the $2.4 million home he shares in Fort Lauderdale’s Seven Isles with his wife, Candice.
In reports released today, police documented a tense scene in which Parscale — after possibly firing a shot inside his house — refused to leave and was ultimately tackled by SWAT officers on his driveway when he emerged shirtless with a beer in his hand.
“I initiated a double leg take down,” wrote Sgt. Matthew Moceri, one of the responding officers, noting that the 6-foot-8-inch Parscale towered over him and ignored his commands to get down.
Officers say they were first called to the Parscale home around 3:36 p.m. Sunday by a neighbor who’d encountered Candice Parscale.
When they arrived, police said the two women were in a parked car outside the couple’s home.
Officers said Parscale’s wife told them the couple had been arguing and her husband had pulled out a handgun and loaded it.
Officers also wrote in their reports that Parscale’s wife told them he had post-traumatic stress disorder and had become violent in recent weeks.
Candice Parscale, 41, showed them bruises on her arms from an argument two days prior, they said.
Police say they took photos of injuries.
“While speaking with Candace Parscale I noticed several large sized contusions on both of her arms, her cheek and forehead,” wrote Detective Steven Smith, slightly misspelling her first name. “When I asked how she received the bruising, Candace Parscale stated Brad Parscale hits her.”
Parscale’s wife told them her husband had not hit her Sunday, but had smacked her phone out of her hand when she tried to call his father. She said he’d talked about shooting himself in recent weeks. She said she heard a gunshot from inside the house after “fleeing,” but later said it might have been a car backfiring.
“Candace immediately fled residence and stated she heard a loud bang shortly after,” stated a report filed by Timothy Skaggs, one of the initial responding officers, who also misspelled her first name. “Candace stated that they realized that Bradley did not shoot himself when they heard Bradley ranting and pacing around the residence and the dog barking frantically. However, they were concerned that Bradley might still try to shoot himself, due to him being in possession of several firearms and refusing to vacate the residence.”
Police officers called Parscale and spoke to him on the phone.
One officer wrote that he sounded drunk and would not leave the house.
Another reported that he smelled like alcohol.
Eventually, a member of the department who considers Parscale to be a friend came to the home, spoke to him by phone and convinced him to come outside and talk.
After Parscale was tackled and handcuffed, police reported removing two shotguns, two rifles, a .22 caliber revolver and five handguns from the home.
Parscale led Trump’s reelection campaign until he was fired by the president as campaign manager in mid July.
He continued working for the campaign as digital director and campaign advisor remotely from Florida.
His demotion came at tumultuous time for the campaign and amid a series of incidents that allies of the president blamed on Parscale, most notably a public assertion that 1 million people had requested tickets for a Tulsa, Oklahoma, speech that ultimately Trump delivered before a partly empty arena.