Man who carried weapons into Walmart to test gun rights pleads guilty to a misdemeanor

A man who authorities said carried a loaded gun into a Walmart in Missouri as a “social experiment” has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making a false report, prosecutors said Friday. 

Dmitriy Andreychenko, 21, pleaded guilty after reportedly being previously being charged with making a terrorist threat.

In the agreement, Andreychenko was given an 180-day suspended jail sentence and two years of probation with a requirement to serve 48 hours shock incarceration in the county jail.{mosads}

A statement from Greene County, Missouri, prosecuting attorney Dan Patterson said that a Springfield Police Department investigation found that Andreychenko did not plan to carry out a shooting, but was instead conducting an “experiment” after two recent mass shootings, one of which took place at a Walmart. 

The day before the incident, Andreychenko posted a picture to Snapchat in which he wore body army and looked down the sights of a rifle, the statement said. His photo was captioned “Watch out Walmart,” authorities said. 

He also told family and friends he planned to carry out a “social experiment” before walking into a Walmart in August wearing tactical pants and body armor, with an AR-15 rifle slung over his chest. 

Andreychenko’s attorney, Dee Wampler, said in a statement reported by The Associated Press Friday that Andreychenko supports the Second Amendment. 

“His intention was to make a statement of his right to openly carry a firearm, which was legal but — for which he now admits was ill-timed given a recent Texas Walmart shooting,” the statement said. “It was a very bad idea which he now regrets. Regardless of how it looked, he never intended to harm or frighten anyone and merely saw it as a way to exercise his rights.”

Days before the incident, 22 people were killed in a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. An additional nine were killed the day after the El Paso shooting during an incident in Dayton, Ohio.