BEDFORD – A Bedford man was arrested after Bedford Police Officer Stewart Ratcliff responded to a 911 call at 4:44 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, to the area of 15th and R streets after a report of a man walking down the roadway waving a firearm around and acting very agitated.
The caller reported the male was wearing gray sweatpants and a gray hoodie. The caller reported they witnessed the male throw the firearm between two Bedford Middle School buildings.
Another 911 caller reported she picked up a juvenile male who was crying for assistance after a man had pointed a firearm at him in the area of 12th and P streets. The caller took a male juvenile to his home in the 1000 block of R Street. The teen told police he was walking home after school when the man yelled at him and then pulled a gun and aimed it at him. The teen took cover behind a parked car, and that is when the woman pulled up next to him, and he waved her down, seeking help. The woman let him into her vehicle, and they watched the man walk down R Street toward the pool. The incident was captured on the school’s video surveillance.
Officers responded to the area, looking for the male with the firearm. Officer Ratcliff spotted the male walking east on 15th Street. Officers surrounded the male and ordered him to show his hands and get on the ground, and he was searched and handcuffed.
Police say 36-year-old Travis Atchinson was intoxicated. He nearly fell over twice when police escorted him to a police vehicle.
Captain Kody Emmons and Officer Steven Hatton Jr. located a CO2 BB gun on the sidewalk near the parking lot on the north side of Bedford Middle School.
Witnesses identified Atchinson as the man waving around the weapon.
Atchinson told police he had been in the area of 11th and Q streets and was headed to the Men’s Warming Shelter. He denied having a weapon.
Atchinson had a blood alcohol content of 0.127.
Atchison was arrested on charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and intimidation with a deadly weapon.
