A leading neuroscientist was busted for allegedly pointing an assault rifle at two women in an Arizona airport while on a coffee run.
Peter Nathan Steinmetz, of Tempe, did not think he did anything wrong when he brought the AR-15 to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, according to local media.
The brain scientist for the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix reportedly had the gun slung over his shoulder while ordering the cup of Joe, which did not cause a problem.
The trouble began after he removed the gun and inadvertently pointed the muzzle at a mother and her 17-year-old daughter, reported the Phoenix News Times.
Phoenix police took issue with “the way he was carrying it,” police Sgt. Steve Martos told the paper.
“(B)oth stated they felt in fear of their safety when the rifle was pointed in their direction,” the booking sheet said.
Steinmetz was arrested and booked into Maricopa County jail on one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon.
His bond was set at $5,000.
This is not the first time Steinmetz brought a firearm to Sky Harbor. In November, he and his son showed up to the airport, both armed, mere days after a madman opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport and killed a TSA officer.
At the time, he told police he was at the airport to pick up his wife, Martos said.
Police speculate that Steinmetz might have been trying to make a point about his right to bear arms with these armed trips to the airport.
The incident that got him in trouble occurred in a non-secure area in the third level of Terminal Four in front of the B gates.
Steinmetz runs the Brain Modeling Laboratory for the Barrow Neurological Institute.