Campaign Action
What, exactly, was Denis Kearbey, 53, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, going for this past September when he brought a short-barreled shotgun to his office, pumped it a few times, waved it around at a city clerk, and asked his “liberal co-worker” if she was scared?
Apparently, he was just looking for a laugh:
"Mr. Kearbey stated he did take the firearm into the office and was teasing [the clerk] about being a liberal," troopers wrote of the interview. "Mr. Kearbey stated he pumped the shotgun, but never threatened anybody with it."
Kearbey initially lied about bringing the gun to work. After a search warrant led to the gun being found in his home, he admitted what he’d done to state troopers, framing it as just a joke, court documents show. They also found this:
The 53-year-old agreed to let them search his city vehicle, where they found a .22-caliber rifle with a suppressor, authorities say. He claimed the city bought him the suppressor to shoot groundhogs, but he couldn't provide any documentation, according to the documents.
Kearbey has worked for this city of 17,200 since the early 1990s, according to the city; he was appointed Interim Street Superintendent in early 2015 after the previous Street Superintendent used a gun to actually shoot a woman (and they even have the same lawyer!). On Monday, Kearbey pleaded not guilty to a single felony count of unlawful use of a weapon, and is free on $25,000 bond.
According to his attorney, Daniel Moore, “jacking a pump shotgun is not equal to displaying it in a threatening manner."
Oh.
Though Kearbey remains employed by the city of Poplar Bluff, where, his lawyer claims, “people have guns all the time,” he is barred from stepping on city property, and his employee biography was removed from the city website late this afternoon.