A Massachusetts man is accused of drunkenly brandishing a gun, repeatedly yelling the N-word and confronting a neighbor.
“You n—-r, think you can flip me off?!” Michael Kerns allegedly yelled in the incident.
Kerns, 41, was arraigned in Quincy District Court on two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of violating civil rights, improperly storing a firearm, and drunkenly carrying a gun, according to the Patriot Ledger newspaper.
Kerns, a licensed gun owner, was being held without bail earlier this week and is due back in court Thursday for a hearing to determine if he poses a “danger to the public,” the newspaper reported.
Police in the Boston suburb of Braintree told the Ledger they were called to Rose Avenue just before 7 p.m. Sunday about a man with a gun.
When officers arrived, victims said they were turning a car around on the street when Kerns yelled at them about going too fast, according to a police report the Ledger obtained.
A woman in the car reportedly gave Kerns the middle finger, victims told police.
At that point, the victims, who had parked farther down the street, told police Kerns approached them with a pistol in hand and yelled the racial slur.
Police said they arrested Kerns at his home, which smelled of alcohol, the Ledger reported. Kerns, who took a breathalyzer, blew three times the legal driving limit, police told the newspaper.
Police also told the Ledger they found an unsecured AR-15 in a bedroom in Kerns’ house, and Kerns told them he had the weapon because he feared for his life.
Police seized Kerns’ guns and license to carry, the Ledger reported.
