Gunman arrested near W.Va. school is in Va. National Guard

Stars and Stripes ^ | August 21, 2012 | N/A

[Jet Jaguar]

A West Virginia man arrested while running in desert camouflage with an AR-15 training rifle is a member of the Virginia National Guard who served a tour of duty in Iraq, and his father says he's not a terrorist.

Stephen Alemar tells The Hagerstown Herald-Mail that he believes his 23-year-old son, William Alemar, was just trying to stay in shape for his next military assignment when he was arrested near two Martinsburg schools on Monday.

William Alemar was charged with committing a terrorist act after police found him carrying two knives and ammunition clips, and wearing a bulletproof vest.

Alemar remained in the Eastern Regional Jail on Tuesday on $50,000 bond.

His attorney, Chris Barnhart, didn't immediately return a telephone message, but Alemar's father said his son didn't mean any harm.

"He's not a terrorist," he said. "He's not a bad kid."

Stephen Alemar said his son graduated from Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Va., and joined the National Guard after he failed to get into the U.S. Naval Academy.

Army spokesman Ray Gall said records confirm that Alemar enlisted in January 2007.

William Alemar is assigned to the Virginia National Guard's Company B, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Woodstock, Va., according to West Virginia National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. David Lester.

Alemar deployed to Iraq from July 1 to Dec. 6, 2011, Lester said, and was assigned to Task Force 183 for convoy security duty.

Martinsburg police discovered after they arrested Alemar that the gun he was carrying fires pellets, not live rounds.

A search of Alemar's home found additional military equipment, which police seized as evidence.

[Salamander]

I’m about 25 minutes away.

Let us both know when ~you’re~ going.

/patiently waits

[Salamander]

A fascinating combination of the two...depending mostly on whether you’re there at night...or not.

[Salamander]

Addendum;

*I* wasn't aware of the gay bars.

[ClayinVA]

another fail. I know, let’s start report off-duty police officers for having a gun in public. I am sure they would enjoy it as much as CCW permit-holders and open-carriers do.

[OldEarlGray]

>>This nation has gone insane.

 

 

"According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. ...  "

--KGB Defector Yuri Bezmenov

--Soviet Subversion of the Free Press (Ideological subversion, Destabilization, CRISIS - and the KGB)

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2095202/posts

[Jet Jaguar]

Good post at 45.

[Smokin' Joe]

A search of Alemar's home found additional military equipment, which police seized as evidence.

Evidence of what? Running with a pellet gun?

[Jet Jaguar]

Not much more info. But, additional news story.

http://articles.herald-mail.com/2012-08-20/news/33292383_1_martinsburg-police-martinsburg-schools-rifle

An Army National Guardsman who was carrying a training rifle and wearing military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest was arrested Monday morning after he was spotted running near two Martinsburg schools, police and military officials said.

Monday was the first day of classes for the 2012-13 school year in Berkeley County.

William Everett Alemar, 23, of 1013 S. Raleigh St., Apt. 3 in Martinsburg, was charged with committing a terroristic act and wearing body armor while committing a felony offense, according to police and court records.

Alemar was being held Monday night in Eastern Regional Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond set by Berkeley County Magistrate Sandra L. Miller, according to court and jail records.

At 7:17 a.m., Martinsburg police received calls about a man seen running while carrying a training rifle in the vicinity of Bulldog Boulevard and South Raleigh Street, Martinsburg Police Lt. George Swartwood said in a news release. Martinsburg High School and Martinsburg South Middle School are across from each other along Bulldog Boulevard.

Martinsburg Patrol Officers Michael Jones, Craig Richmond and Erik Herb encountered the man in the area of Silver Lane and South Raleigh Street “in full military desert camouflage and ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest,” Swartwood said in the news release.

After engaging him at gunpoint, the officers ordered the man to his knees and then to the prone position before seizing an AR-15 (M-4) training rifle from him, according to the news release.

Swartwood said Monday night that the rifle has the look and feel of one that shoots bullets, but it shoots pellets. Two knives and several unloaded magazines also were found in the man’s possession, according to the news release.

His ballistic vest contained ceramic panels, which make it more bullet-resistant, according to police.

Police said the man indicated he was out running and jogging while wearing his gear, according to the news release.

“The primary concern for the police department was that subject’s proximity to the area schools — Martinsburg High School, South Middle — when he was first located off Bulldog Boulevard,” Swartwood said.

No explosives were found in a search of the man’s apartment Monday afternoon, but additional military equipment and a training pistol, similar to the rifle in its function, were found and seized as evidence, police said.

Alemar’s father, Stephen Alemar, told The Herald-Mail on Monday that he believes his son was running with his gear to stay in shape for his next military assignment. Alemar said his son returned home in December from deployment in Iraq, where he had been assigned to a special forces unit. “He’s not a terrorist; he’s not a bad kid,” his father said.

[Jet Jaguar]

http://articles.herald-mail.com/2012-08-20/news/33292383_1_martinsburg-police-martinsburg-schools-rifle

[killermedic]

If it was a training rifle then it is what we refer to as a “Rubber Duck!” Meaning that it is a heavy peice of amalgamated plastic with a piece of rebar in the middle for weight(sometimes an old M-16 barrel) but nothing that is more useful than a club! This is just more police activism in the name of “peace and safety!” I hope it turns out well for this Soldier.

[Jet Jaguar]

That is what is looks like to me.

[OldEarlGray]

[His ballistic vest contained ceramic panels, which make it more bullet-resistant,]

So?   They also make it heavier.

 

It's not unusual at all to see folks running up the incline in Manitou Springs and down the Bar trail wearing full camo, rucksacks, and/or these...

http://www.weightvest.com/2010/v-force/weightvestmulti.html

 

 

...for the same TRAINING effect.

 

A simple backpack doesn't simulate the weight/compression on the front of the chest.

Mine's not camo though, it's fire engine red... so it'll make it easier for EMTs to spot the (50+ year old) corpse. Heh heh.

[Dead Corpse]

Shoot me your info and I’ll pass it on.

[ottbmare]

I’m not going, sugar. I’m an asthmatic, arthritic lady in my late middle years, and it’s all I can do to defend my house. You’re the tough girl with the leathers and motorcycles and Dobes; you go right ahead, if you like. If you and Dead Corpse want to get together and attack a government building full of cops, be my guest, but I think it will end for you the way it did for John Brown and his men, not far away. The time is not right.

[Dead Corpse]

Airsoft.

This whole thing is much ado about nothing and highly illegal in any sane Country. Of course, sanity isn't in vogue any more...

[ClayinVA]

oh, and now he is drunk. Story changing by the day.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/prosecutor-man-with-military-gear-near-wva-school-was-highly-intoxicated/2012/08/23/43fe7d4c-ed0a-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html

[Jet Jaguar]

Thanks for the update. Public intoxication might have beena better charge for him.