Carolina Beach police chief talks about BB gun incident that was caught on camera

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Two men face charges after Carolina Beach police responded to the boardwalk where someone was allegedly waving a gun in the air.

It happened just before 6:30 on Monday night.

When officers arrived on scene, they told the man to drop the gun and he did.

“The call came in as a subject with a gun on the boardwalk and that was the way the initial call came in and our officers responded very quickly, got there in a timely manner. Upon their arrival, they observed one suspect who did have a weapon in his hand at that time, of course we didn’t know what it was,” said Carolina Beach Police Chief Vic Ward.

BB gun recovered from boardwalk incident in Carolina Beach on May 1, 2023 (Photo: CBPD)

Police say the man had a BB gun, which looked like a real handgun.

“The officers did a great job; it came in as obviously a suspect with a gun. Everything going on in the world, obviously you have a lot of thoughts you really don’t know. So, they had a lot of unknowns not only on the way to the scene, but then once they got to the scene, they had to immediately assess what they were presented with. So, they did an outstanding job and I’m very proud of all my officers and how they handled it,” said Ward.

Greyson Hartsell was bartending at the Carolina Smokehouse when it all went down.

“I was just standing behind the bar and a table came up and was like hey there’s some guy over there with a gun and he’s like waiving it around and stuff,” Hartsell said. “So I take my phone and I’m filming. Gun looked like it was a glock and it had like an extended mag or whatever. But, he was just standing there all dazed and confused and just started waiving the gun around.”

That suspect, Brian McGuirt, 24, from Statesville, is charged with disorderly conduct, and simple possession schedule VI.  He received a $1,000 secured bond.

Andrew Tyson, 21, from Charlotte, is charged with simple possession schedule VI and was served felony warrants out of Mecklenburg County. He received a $5,000 secured bond.

Carolina Beach PD said no shots were fired and no one got hurt.