An armed man impersonating the National Guard during a protest in Los Angeles following the murder of George Floyd was arrested on Monday.
Gregory Wong, 31, took an Uber to downtown Los Angeles in a National Guard outfit on June 1 while carrying firearms, including a “ghost gun,” a homemade weapon without serial number called, according to ABC7.
The man was then arrested near the intersection of E. 1st Street and N. Main Street at around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, FOX LA reported.
While in custody, Wong told authorities he was there meeting one of his friends in the National Guard and he wanted to defend a jewelry store downtown.
Wong was reportedly spotted due to the weapon he was carrying, an AR-15 rifle. The typical gear that National Guardsmen carry is an M4 or M16.
Jeremy Ma, a former reservist and who knows Wong from the airsoft community, said the man outed himself by wearing too much equipment.
“No one I know in the military would do anything so stupid, he kitted himself out as if he was ready to go to Afghanistan and kick in doors,” Ma said.
“I’m a former national guardsmen, the National Guard deploy with their uniforms, body armor, riot helmets, and one weapon, usually a sidearm or a long arm, he showed up with a sidearm and a long arm, his equipment that carried his body armor was the wrong color.”
Ma added that Wong did not get any responses from his Facebook post telling people he was available to help defend their stores from looters.
“Maybe he expressed a bit of frustration,” he said.
Wong currently has felony charges for the manufacturing and distribution of assault weapons and is currently being held with a $50,000 bond.
Feature Image (left) Screenshot via ABC7 (right) via @billFOXLA
