Former State Employee: Loaded Gun at Sec. of State's Office 'Innocent Mistake'

On February 11 the attorney for former California state employee Bryan Keith Thurmond argued that Thurmond made an “innocent mistake” in allegedly bringing “a loaded pistol, three knives, and an extra [ammunition] magazine” to the secretary of state’s office on January 19.

Thurmond’s attorney, John Holbus, told the Sacramento County Superior Court that Thurmond had the gun, knives, and extra magazine with him because he was going “to a firing range with his brother after work.”

But according to The Sacramento Bee, Thurmond’s brother “could not corroborate…[those] plans” when police questioned him. Instead, Thurmond’s brother told the California Highway Patrol that Thurmond had an “open invitation” to come to his “brother’s home on weekends.”

“Thurmond had been in trouble at work” prior to allegedly bringing the gun. The SacBee reports he had been “sending inappropriate messages to two female co-workers,” and those included a “text message asking a woman to guess the identity of her secret admirer.”

Thurmond is “recently divorced.”

The state fired Thurmond following the gun charges and “obtained a restraining order against him.”

No word on whether his firearms will now be seized under California’s new “gun violence restraining order” law.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.