Senior Navy Official Investigated After Being Caught On Camera Pointing Gun At Young Men
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/CBS News) -- A senior naval official was under investigation Tuesday night after pulling a gun on some young men outside his phone.
As CBS News' David Martin reported, one of the men recorded the confrontation on his cellphone.
Karnig Ohannessian, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Environment, can be seen in the video pointing the gun at young men he said were drunk and making noise outside his house in the Washington suburbs.
Ohannessian told the boys to get in their car, to which one of them responded: "You're pointing a gun at my friend. This is a criminal offense, so please stop it."
The men taunted him while one of them recorded the incident.
"Be thankful you have a gun man," one of the boys told Ohannessian as he continued to brandish the gun. "It shows what kind of a [expletive] you are."
A woman seen in the video talking on the phone is apparently Ohannessian's wife. She later pleaded for him to let the men leave as he claimed that they were on his private property.
It was unclear if the gun was loaded, but in the footage, Ohannessian threatens to use it.
"I can shoot the [expletive] out of you guys right now," he says in the clip.
Shortly after the incident last month, the mother of one of the young men filed a complaint. Ohannessian, who is also a recipient of two meritorious civilian service awards, was briefly taken into custody.
The Navy learned of the incident on Tuesday when shown the video by CBS News. It said it is working to understand the full details of what happened.
No charges have been filed against Ohannessian, and the investigation remains open.
