Judge OKs taking away Parscale’s firearms
MIAMI — President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager appears to be aman in a deepening emotional crisis— drinking heavily since his demotion, physically abusing his wife, brandishing guns and threatening to shoot himself or others.
That portrayal of Brad Parscale, filed in Broward County Circuit Court by Fort Lauderdale police, was enough to persuade a judge Wednesday to sign off on temporarily confiscating a small arsenal of firearms from the aide’s home.
Parscale, who had been working remotely as a digital director of Trump’s re-election campaign since his demotion, stepped away from the campaign altogether Wednesday.
The police petition to seize Parscale’s guns offered details into what led to police tackling and cuffing him Sunday outside the home he shares with his wife in the city’s tony Seven Isles area.
The former San Antonian, ousted in July as campaign manager for the president’s 2020 presidential run, repeatedly had threatened to use firearms on himself or others since the summer and had shown increasing signs of stress over the past fewweeks, the police petition said. At times, hewas described racking the slide on handguns and threatening suicide.
In the petition, Fort Lauderdale Detective Christopher Carita claims the 6-foot-8 Parscale “poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to himself or others by having a firearm or any ammunition in his custody or control.”
According to police, Parscale owns a cache of weapons: Six handguns, including two 9mm Glocks, a 9 mm Night hawk, a 9 mm Wilson Combat, a .45-caliber Dan Wessen and a .22-caliber North American Arms. Also, a Remington 700 model long rifle and Remington 12-gauge shotgun, a Daniel Defense 5.56mm long rifle and a Barreta 12-gauge shotgun.
The petition was served to Parscale on Tuesday night, said Fort Lauderdale police Sgt. DeAnna Greenlaw.
Parscale, who was involuntarily committed to the hospital Sunday, wasn’t expected to be released until later Wednesday.
The petition also laid out a detailed narrative of the Sunday incident. It was just before 4 p.m. when police were called to Brad and Candice Parscale’s home. The caller said Parscale had barricaded himself inside with a loaded weapon, fired it and was threatening to kill himself.
When police arrived they found Candice Parscale outside in front of the house. She told police that her husband, who had been drinking, racked a weapon and that she was worried he would kill her or himself.
She told police she had run outside and had heard a loud bang, but she realized her husband hadn’t shot himself when she heard him “ranting and pacing” and the dog barking.
One officer outside the home was contacted by Parscale and eventually coaxed the presidential aide into coming outside unarmed.
After starting and stopping a few times, police said, the towering Parscale finally went outside shirtless and carrying a can of beer. In the petition, an officer noted that before Parscale emerged his “speech was slurred as though he was under the influence of alcohol and he appeared to be crying.”
Once outside, Parscale was tackled and handcuffed.