Police have arrested a man who took a toy gun into a Marine recruiting substation in Lancaster, California.
Angel Cruz, 23, faces charges of brandishing a "very realistic looking" replica firearm while and being under the influence of a controlled substance after being arrested Tuesday at a nearby the recruiting station, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Cruz is currently in county jail.
Earlier on Tuesday, Cruz walked into the recruiting office appearing intoxicated and said in a very loud voice that he wanted to join the Marines, said Staff Sgt. ergeant Willie Torres, the station commander.
All of the recruiters were busy at the time, so they asked Cruz to come back later, Torres said in a statement on Wednesday. When Cruz returned a short time later, he once again demanded to join the Marine Corps.
"He was very loud about it, was being a nuisance, and created a scene as we had other qualified applicants and parents in the office at the time," Torres said in the statement. "One of the recruiters was asked to escort him out of the office, then the gentleman stated he had a firearm."
Cruz was outside of the recruiting station when he claimed to have a gun, so the recruiters locked the station’s doors and called sheriff’s department, said Staff Sgt. Alicia R. Leaders, a spokeswoman for Recruiting Station Los Angeles.
Leaders said Cruz did not show his toy gun either inside or outside the recruiting substation. No one in the office got into a physical altercation with him. The Marines in the office remained calm as a recruiter escorted the man Cruz outside.
Despite Tuesday's incident, the recruiting office in Lancaster has no plans to add security measures, Leaders said.
"Our continued public trust lies among our trained first responders for the safety of the communities where we live and work," she said. "Additionally, we encourage our Marines and family members to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement authorities."
In July a terrorist attacked the Chattanooga recruiting office and Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga in Tennessee, killing four Marines and a sailor.
Over the years, military recruiting centers have been targeted by terrorists because "because they are both ubiquitous and they're vulnerable," Brian Michael Jenkins, of the Rand Corp, told Military Times last year.
"These recruiting offices are everywhere," Jenkins said for a July 17 story. "They’re in shopping centers. They’re all around the country. So if you think about attacking a military target, as opposed to driving to some military base where there will be armed guards at the gate; if you want a geographically convenient, readily accessible target that the shooter can portray as a military target, then recruiting stations fit the bill. So the attack, while shocking, is not surprising."
