Law enforcement from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and Warsaw Police Department responded around 12:30 p.m. Thursday after being notified of a man carrying a rifle in front of the old courthouse in downtown Warsaw. When officers met the subject, Barry Mancuso, 43, of St. Joseph County, they determined he wasn’t violating any laws and the officers eventually cleared the scene, according to KCSD Public Information Officer Sgt. Chad Hill. The gun, while appearing to look like an assault rifle, was actually .22 rifle, Hill said. It is not illegal to openly carry a rifle in Indiana. County Prosecutor Dan Hampton this morning said officers called him and advised him of the situation. Dispatch had received several calls from residents who were alarmed. Officers checked him out and found he had licenses for his weapons. Hampton said from what he heard from officers, Mancuso was “parading around the courthouse” square with his weapons. Hampton advised the officers that Mancuso could stand down or be charged with disorderly conduct. The charge of disorderly conduct has three sections to it, and the third section would apply to this case. Disorderly conduct is a Class B misdemeanor. In Indiana, a person may be arrested for disorderly conduct if they make an unreasonable noise and continue to do so after being asked to stop; if they fight or act tumultuously in public; or if they disrupt a lawful public assembly. Hampton said police received several calls by several people who saw Mancuso as disrupting or threatening their lawful assembly. A person acting recklessly can rise to the level of disorderly conduct. In a telephone interview late Thursday night, Mancuso said his sister lives in Warsaw and he comes often to check on her. They sometimes go for walks to improve her health. He recently finished having his rifle cleaned and didn’t want to leave it at his sister’s house while they were on a walk because he didn’t feel it would be secure there. He also was on a bike so he had no vehicle to leave it in. Mancuso said since he open carries a firearm, “I have the responsibility to carry it responsibly.” He stated he called central dispatch as a courtesy call to let them know he would be walking downtown with his sister carrying his rifle. The dispatch officer told him they would have an officer call him back in 15 minutes, but by the time the officer did that, Mancuso said they were already walking in front of the courthouse. He said the officer on the phone told him that he could legally carry the rifle but it would startle people, but Mancuso said either the officer eventually hung up on him or he lost the call. Mancuso said he turned around and an officer was behind him, and that’s when he started recording his interaction with officers, which he posted to the Times-Union Facebook page last night. The video is about 27-1/2 minutes long. During the video, an officer called the county prosecutor’s office, but in the end the officers just told Mancuso to go away because he was scaring people. Mancuso said he was just practicing his Second Amendment rights. If a person calls in to the police because of that, he said the caller should be informed by dispatch or an officer of a person’s right to carry a firearm. He said the reason he carries is for protection. He openly carries a firearm to “let the bad guys know” he will defend himself, and that it’s the bad guys who will conceal their weapons so as not to get caught. Mancuso also said, “I was verbally pushed into giving my ID” by the officers, even though he didn’t want to give them his name. “We should let the bad guys know we won’t take their crap. Everyone will carry eventually. Gun-free zones have more crime in them,” he continued. Mancuso said he carries a gun 95 percent of the time, and the other 5 percent is when he’s at work but can’t carry it. “It doesn’t have to be this explosive. I just want to take a walk with my sister,” he said, adding that he’s afraid America is becoming more of a police state like Russia. “I want to protect my rights. I want to protect the Constitution. I want to protect America.” He also said, “I’m a perfectly sane person. I became a gun owner not too long ago because I was robbed.” When he returns to Warsaw to visit his sister, he said he will continue to open carry his gun. “I want to protect myself. We’re a gun state,” he said. Hampton said if the situation arises again, officers will deal with it on a case-by-case basis. Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said Dispatch did receive a few calls and Mancuso did give them a courtesy call, but officers were obliged to respond. “I think in today’s society with all that’s happened, we had an obligation to respond,” Rovenstine said this morning. He said both the WPD and KCSD responded because it was in the city limits but also on county property. “He has every right to do that,” Rovenstine said of Mancuso carrying a side arm and rifle. Rovenstine said officers may have detained him a little too long, but they were in contact with the prosecutor’s office during that time, and it was a learning opportunity for officers as they’ve not had to deal with a situation like that before. “Our guys and the city guys there are all pro Second Amendment. No one was trying to violate his rights. We just have an obligation to protect the public. I don’t think we acted inappropriately,” Rovenstine said. He said he watched Mancuso’s video and was not concerned about anything officers did.
