A white female campground manager has been fired after she pulled a gun on a black couple who were enjoying a picnic by a lake with their dog.
Jessica Richardson filmed the woman in Mississippi as she approached with a gun at the Kampgrounds of America on Sunday.
The manager asked the couple to leave when she discovered they didn’t have a reservation, however Jessica insists they were told at reception that they didn’t need to be staying at the campground to spend the day by Oktibbeha County Lake.
In the clip, you can see the older woman approaching the couple with a gun in her hand after arriving in her truck.
Jessica can be heard saying: ‘
This lady just pulled a gun because we out here and don’t have reservations.
The only thing you had to tell us was to leave, we would have left. You didn’t have to pull a gun.
The woman responded:
Well I’m just telling you, you need to leave because it’s under private ownership.
You can’t be out here.
As the conversation went on, the woman put the gun in her pocket and continued to speak to the couple, who eventually walked away with their dog.
Jessica later shared the video to Facebook, telling her followers ‘racism is alive and well’.
She wrote:
Today was a beautiful day so my husband (who’s a vet), our 2 year old dog, and myself, decided to Google a lake to visit and have a picnic. We found a lake located in Starkville and decided to visit.
Not five mins later a truck pulls up and a white lady screams at us, she then jumps out of her truck with a gun… and proceeded to point it at the 3 of us, simply because we didn’t make reservations.
After leaving, my husband stopped by the office and talked with her husband (they’re the property managers). The husband tells my husband that reservations aren’t needed for the lake.
Kampgrounds of America later confirmed they had investigated the incident and fired the employee, as per Mail Online.
In a statement, the company said:
KOA Inc. is aware of the situation that occurred Sunday, May 26th at the KOA franchise in Starkville, Mississippi.
KOA is currently looking into the matter and reaching out to all of the parties involved.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.