Video shows Philly bar owner pull gun on Black man upset over no social distancing
Philadelphia police are investigating an incident involving a bar owner pulling a gun on another man in a video that has since gone viral.
This happened yesterday on 2nd ST in Old City Philly WHERE I WORK!! My friend Liz, the blonde in front of the man with the gun, was standing up for the young black man who only had A BIKE LOCK!!! We need answers!! @FOX29philly @6abc @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/iRBUEHxO7W
— Dj Torney ♛ (@Dj__Torney) July 6, 2020
Liz Krieger, who attempted to put herself between the two men in the video, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that a Black man on a bike stopped by the restaurant where she was dining and yelled “Social distancing! No one is wearing a mask!”
Jamie Atlig, owner of Infusion Lounge, then stood up and the two men began arguing, according to the publication.
“He says, ‘You can have your MAGA privilege.’ (Atlig) pulled out a gun and said ‘Trump 2020,’ and pointed it at this guy’s face,” Krieger told WTXF-TV.
“The Black man doesn’t need to be killed for this to be a story,” Krieger said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “A man had a gun pulled on him for speaking the truth. We weren’t social distancing. He was completely in the right to be yelling at us — and if I hadn’t been there, this is how Black people are shot and it’s claimed later that he had a bike lock on him and people thought it was a gun. But let’s be clear: The bike lock was never pulled out [until after the gun was].”
Krieger said the police arrived later but the man had already left the scene, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The video was posted by DJ Torney on Twitter and it has received more than 2,000 retweets and 700,000 views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Atlig, who denied being racist, told CBS Philadelphia that he believed his life was in danger and that the man “verbally threatened him.”
“As he’s getting closer, he reaches behind his back like this, starts pulling out a metal object which at that point, thought was a gun because I saw a black handle,” Atlig told CBS Philadelphia.
The Black man has not been identified in media reports and does not appear to have made a public statement about the incident.
Atlig said that as a Muslim man, he “knows what it feels like to be targeted,” according to CBS Philadelphia. “They are making things about racial (sic) that have nothing to do with race and that narrative and that activity needs to stop in the country,” Atlig said.
Philadelphia City Council Member At-Large Isaiah Thomas wrote on Twitter that the incident was “upsetting.”
“After a weekend of too much gun violence, more guns is not the answer,” Thomas wrote. “We need more solutions before we have more problems!”
The Philadelphia Police Department said they are “actively investigating this incident” and to contact Central Detectives at 215-686-3093 if you’re a witness or have any information.
