Gun Barrel City police said officers were called to a Walmart where citizens said “an armed man was threatening to shoot up the store.”
GUN BARREL CITY, Texas — An armed Texas man wearing a ballistic vest was arrested Saturday and charged with Terroristic Threat and unlawfully carrying a weapon in Gun Barrel City, according to police.
Gun Barrel City is in Henderson County, about an hour southeast of Dallas.
The Gun Barrel City Police Department said officers responded to Walmart, located at 1200 W Main Street, for a call about “an armed man threatening to shoot up the store.” Officers located the man, identified as 22-year-old John Thomas Martin, of Kerrville.
Officers recovered from Martin’s person a Glock 10mm semi-auto black handgun, three magazines and one extended magazine totaling 63 rounds of ammunition, shooting ear plugs and found he was wearing a ballistic vest under his hoodie, the department said in a press release.
Martin was arrested and charged with Terroristic Threat, a third-degree felony, and Unlawfully Carrying of a Weapon, a Class-A misdemeanor.
“The Gun City Police Department would like to thank the citizens that came forward to report this suspicious behavior to Walmart staff,” the department said. “SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING. These actions and the officers response truly prevented a very dangerous outcome.”
Henderson County jail records showed Martin was previously arrested by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office back in 2022 on another Terroristic Threat charge, but was released to another agency. His bond for the 2022 charge was set at $50,000, according to jail logs.
Martin’s bond for Saturday’s Terroristic Threat charge was set at $1 million, and the unlawfully carrying a weapon charge was set at $25,000, jail records showed.
He is listed in Henderson County Jail as a resident of Mabank, which is only five miles away from Gun Barrel City.
