Man Fearful of Coronavirus Threatens Landscapers at Gunpoint

When a group of landscapers went to work Friday morning in Palm Desert they never imagined they’d be threatened at gunpoint, but that’s exactly what happened. It happened just before 11 a.m. on Jaguar Way.

“It’s crazy because you’re just out here working like minding your own business,” said one worker, who did not want to be identified.

They say they were doing their job trimming trees when the neighbor comes out points a handgun at one of them.

“He basically threatened him to shoot him if he didn’t get off the wall if we didn’t stop working,” said another worker, who also asked to not be identified.

The reason, they said, he was afraid they were spreading coronavirus, “Yeah, he basically just said that we needed to have masks on that we shouldn’t even be working,” adding the man was acting paranoid, “he was just more scared of the coronavirus and the lock down the speech of the governor, he was just basically restating the speech that he gave.”

“He looked kind of panicked about it that was his problem the virus,” said the gardener.

Despite this they continued to finish their job thankful to be okay.

“I’m really happy because I have two daughters and a wife so family, also my coworkers are good so I‘m really happy,” he said.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department says 47-year-old Brian Burr of Palm Desert was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threats. Deputies searched his property and found numerous firearms. They were seized along with ammunition.