Former candidate accused of threatening mayor

Tony Barr, a candidate for mayor, attends a live debate held on WICC 600 radio at the station's studio in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday October 13, 2015. Tony Barr, a candidate for mayor, attends a live debate held on WICC 600 radio at the station's studio in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday October 13, 2015. Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Former candidate accused of threatening mayor 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT — No extra security is planned for Mayor Joseph Ganim after city activist Tony Barr, three months after he lost the mayoral race to Ganim, threatened to “blow the mayor’s head off,” police said.

Barr, 51, was charged Thursday with threatening and disorderly conduct, misdemeanors. He was released after posting $25,000 bond. He could not be reached for comment.

“I believe we have more than adequate security in place to protect the mayor,” said police Capt. Armando Perez. “Of course this incident is concerning to me. I know Tony Barr and I had hoped, after his criminal history, he had turned the corner on his life. But the mayor doesn’t feel threatened by Mr. Barr, and we will now let the court take care of it.”

A petitioning candidate for mayor, Barr became an outspoken city activist after serving 20 years in prison.

In 1991, a federal jury found Barr guilty of taking part is a drug distribution ring in the city. During the trial, police testified that Barr, an enforcer for the ring, pointed a loaded semi-automatic handgun at an undercover officer.

Police said Barr came into the government center building shortly after 3 p.m. on Thursday and demanded to see the mayor. A female security guard would not let him go farther than the front desk, but allowed Barr to call the mayor’s office from her telephone.

Police said Barr then began to yell at the mayor’s receptionist, saying “I want to talk to the (expletive) mayor now. ... I’m going to shoot the (expletive) mayor. I’m going to blow the mayor’s head off.”

Police arrived at the scene and arrested Barr.

“It was really scary,” said a local resident who requested to remain anonymous and was sitting with his girlfriend in the Margaret Morton Center Thursday afternoon when Barr came in.

“There was this big guy, and he was yelling he was going to get the mayor. We thought he had a gun,” the witness said Friday. “He was really angry and he was going to get in. I thought he was going to attack the police officer.”

Barr was a successful athlete as a teen, but later fell into gangs and drugs.

After his release from prison, he vowed publicly he was turning his life around and began attending city meetings. At those, he often recounted the details of his own downfall while calling for better advantages for city children.

His enthusiasm sometimes got the better of him; two years ago, he was thrown out of a Board of Education meeting and told never to come back.

It is not the first time a Bridgeport mayor has been threatened with harm.

In March 2012, a former Marine was arrested after police said he threatened to kill then-Mayor Bill Finch and members of the City Council.

Craig Copley, 62, who was convicted two years earlier of harassing employees at the Thomas Merton House, was charged with second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct in that case.

At the time, police said they evacuated the City Council chambers after Copley approached an employee of the state Department of Education outside the chambers and told him he was there to kill Finch and everyone else inside.

He then fled. Finch was not at the meeting.

Copley served six months in prison.