TC student arrested, facing gun charge
Texarkana College police officers arrested a student March 8 for brandishing a concealed weapon following an altercation with a concerned citizen, an official said.
Stephen Burriss, 21, was arrested about 8:40 a.m. and charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon, a Class A misdemeanor. He was booked into the Bi-State Justice Building jail.
TC Police Chief Stephen
Gass said Burriss had been driving erratically on Robison Road and someone who was dropping a student off for class followed him onto the campus.
The citizen told officials a concern about Burriss’ health is what led to following him onto campus.
Gass said it is possible Burriss thought the concerned citizen was following him.
“The disturbance escalated for a short period of time,” Gass said. “We immediately had students and staff that responded and stayed in contact with the suspect and kept an eye on him. Our officers were notified and arrived within moments to contact one of the witnesses and made contact with the subject very quickly.”
Burriss, who has a concealed carry permit, had a loaded gun in the waistband of his pants and attempted to remove it, Gass said.
“It was determined he had fully displayed the weapon on campus, which is a violation of lawfully carrying a weapon in Texas,” he said.
Burriss also had another unloaded gun and two full magazines in his backpack, the chief said.
“This is a perfect example of what we tell our students and the community all the time, which is if you see something say something,” Gass said. “This was definitely a success, I think for our community, for our students and staff. Everybody was alert. They saw something they thought was suspicious and was concerning to them and made a report, made sure that they stayed in contact enough without endangering themselves but were able to keep contact with where he was at and forward the information to the police department.”
Gass said the incident will be immediately reported to the state and that there is a possibility Burriss’ concealed carry permit could be revoked. Burriss is also banned from the TC campus until the conclusion of the investigation.
The college’s administration encourages those on campus to report any suspicious activity immediately to TC police by calling 903-798-3330 and to remain aware of their surroundings at all times.