Man who pointed sniper rifle at crowd at Weatherford protests arrested, deputies say
A man who pointed a sniper rifle at crowds during a protest in Weatherford on July 25 was arrested by the Parker County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, authorities said.
Guy Napoli, an Aledo resident, set up a rifle on top of the cab of a pickup truck near the Parker County Courthouse lawn where protesters and counter-protesters were gathered, police said. Protesters were there to demand the removal of a Confederate statue, and counter-protesters showed up to defend it.
Parker County sheriff’s deputies and Weatherford police ordered everyone to disperse after skirmishes broke out between the two groups.
Over the next few days, authorities looked over photographs and videos from the protest on social media. A Parker County sheriff’s deputy also received a copy of a Weatherford police report taken on July 25.
According to the report, a woman monitoring the protests through social media called Weatherford police and said she was concerned about a photo she saw of a man with a sniper rifle on a pickup truck. A Weatherford detective reported he looked at the photo and observed a “... man is set up on a cab of a pickup truck in a position similar to a ready sniper.”
A Weatherford police sergeant was able to identify the man in the photo as Napoli, who lives in Aledo. In surveillance footage, Napoli was seen shouldering the rifle and looking through the scope. He appeared to be reading small signs on a billboard, which was near the Confederate statue where several people were standing, the arrest warrant says. He was set up near the Cotten Bratton Furniture Store, which is about 340 feet from the Parker County Courthouse.
The sergeant determined that “Napoli performed aforementioned actions with complete disregard for the safety and welfare of everyone in the vicinity of the statue,” according to the arrest warrant.
Napoli was charged with disorderly conduct/displaying a weapon and booked in the jail Tuesday with a $2,000 bond. He was released Tuesday, according to jail records.
Napoli did not immediately respond to requests to comment over social media.
Two other counter-protesters were arrested at the protest on July 25.
Mitchell Hardin Jr., a 44-year-old white man from Fort Worth, was seen by police at 5:35 p.m. charging at a Black man and attempting to tackle him, according to an arrest warrant. At 7 p.m., as police were giving commands for the crowds to disperse, Raymond Petraska, a 56-year-old white man from Weatherford, was seen by a lieutenant provoking a Black protester by poking and cursing at the man, who was leaving the area, according to a police report.
