STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/CNN) — A Mississippi couple captured video of a campground employee telling them to leave while holding a gun.
"You could feel the intent behind it," Jessica Richardson said. "I felt it. I felt the heat from it. I felt it in her eyes. I knew exactly what it was."
The couple recorded the confrontation.
Jessica Richardson said she and her husband Franklin Richardson were looking to spend Memorial Day weekend picnicking with their dog, possibly even renting a cabin.
She said they Googled a nearby Kampgrounds of America location and decided to drive there. That's when things took a turn for the worse.
"She jumped out and the gun was pointed at me, my husband and our dog," Richardson said. "It was just pointing at us. One finger was on the trigger, the other finger was on the lever of the revolver."
Richardson said that's when she pulled out her cellphone.
The woman holding the gun identified herself as the property manager, but her choice of words were less than professional.
"She was just like, 'Get, get, you don't belong here, you don't belong here, you don't belong here,'" Richardson said. "The fact that she used 'get, get' like we were a dog. You say 'get, get' to a stray dog that's on your porch. That 'get, get' got to me more than, 'You don't belong here.'"
Her husband was left feeling confused during the encounter.
"It's not like we posed a threat to anybody. We were out there walking our dog. There's nothing harmful about that," he said.
Franklin Richardson is an Army National Guard sergeant who recently returned home from a nine-month deployment in the Middle East.
"It's kind of crazy," he said. "You go over there and don't have a gun pointed at you, and you come back here and the first thing that happens is you have a gun pointed at you. It's kind of crazy to think about."
On the way out, the couple spoke to another campground employee outside the office, who turned out to be the woman's husband.
"I get out and start talking to him," Franklin Richardson said. "The first thing he says is, 'Oh no, you don't need a reservation for the lake.' Then she pulls up flying, hops out the car, then proceeded to yell at my wife, 'You need to get back in the car,' just cussing her out, and she's not even saying anything."
With signs at the front entrance and two different stories from employees, the Richardsons were confused, horrified and disappointed.
Kampgrounds of America issued a statement saying the company does not condone the use of firearms, and the employee has been fired.
