Man Accused of Flashing A Gun at Pro-Immigrant Demonstrators in Downtown Portland on Monday (UPDATED)

Sergey Antonov Left: MCSO. Right: Doug Brown





***Update #2, 1/31/2017, 1:44 p.m***

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Antonov's arraignment is over, and he willbe prosecuted for Monday's incident.

***Update #1, 1/31/2017, 11:36 a.m***

This morning, the Mercury got ahold of Sergey Antonov, the 20-year-old Washington resident who is accused of displaying a replica handgun to pro-immigrant demonstrators in downtown Portland yesterday. He was riding in a pickup truck flying a Donald Trump flag that also contained a "AR-15 style rifle" the driver (legally, apparently) owned.

He was released from custody before his arraignment on a second degree disorderly conduct charge scheduled for this afternoon. A protester called police claiming Antonov showed his gun while the truck drove around the protest.

He denies being a specific Trump supporter ("I'm just a fan of the president"), denies showing the gun, denies being downtown because of the rally, and says the incident was "pure coincidence." Here's what he had to say.

Mercury: What brought you to Portland yesterday?"

Antonov: "It wasn’t the protest, it had nothing to do with the protest. A lot of what was said in the media wasn’t true. It had nothing to do with the protest, and no gun was being pointed at any time."

Mercury: Why do you think the police were called on you?

Antonov: “It was a false alarm, basically. They released me with no bail or anything because they figured there was no case with this. It was nothing serious."

Mercury: So nobody ever saw your BB gun?

Antonov: "No" (nobody could have seen it)

Mercury: Why did you have it on you, just for reference?

Antonov: “We had a few guns on us."

Mercury: But why did you have them on you yesterday, specifcally?

Antonov: “Just our constitutional rights.”

Mercury: How did the cops determine you had guns?

Antonov: "Someone called the police on us, it wasn’t that cops saw it. Someone called the cops on us and they arrested us and found the guns. Someone called and said we were pointing guns at the protesters, and obviously police are not going to react positively to that, and so they arrested us. Once everything got cleared up, they might not even charge me at all, but they might give me a misdemeanor which I’m going to fight with a lawyer either way."

Mercury: I saw the Trump flag on the truck. Are you a Trump supporter?

Antonov: "I'm just a supporter of the president"

Mercury: I’m curious about why things went down the way they did.

Antonov: “It was just pure coincidence, honestly. The media blew it up into a whole different direction it wasn’t supposed to go."

Mercury: Anything else you want to say?

Antonov: "It had nothing to do with the protest and I love all people. It had nothing to do with hate or anything."

*** Original story: 1/30/2017, 5:01 p.m. ***

Two people in a massive pickup truck—with a Donald Trump "Make America Great Again" flag next to the United States flag flying from the back—drove around a pro-immigrant rally at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland this afternoon. The passenger, police say, "displayed a handgun as the driver passed a peaceful demonstration in the park." After pulling them over, the police also found an "AR-15 style rifle" inside that belonged to the driver.

Only the passenger, identified as 20-year-old Sergey E Antonov of Battle Ground, Washington, was arrested. He was booked on one count of second degree disorderly conduct. His gun, police later learned, was a BB gun. He'll be arraigned at 1:45 pm tomorrow.

The driver's "AR-15 style rifle" was temporarily "taken for safekeeping." The driver wasn't charged with a crime.

The truck was stopped on the corner of SW 4th and Salmon, two blocks from the rally decrying President Donald Trump's recent executive order banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US.

After covering the rally, the Mercury witnessed Portland police officers taking down the Trump and US flags from the back of the truck and watched as they searched the car. Before we arrived on the scene, witnesses saw officers take out the rifle and put in the back of a squad car.

Portland police surrounded this pickup truck, took down Trump flag. Word is it was circling the pro-immigrant rally, and that cops found gun pic.twitter.com/SIFVlDIoAN

— doug brown (@dougbrown8) January 30, 2017

Here’s a picture (a bystander took) of the gun PPB seized from the Trump truck circling the pro-immigrant rally. pic.twitter.com/40QOarv9GV

— doug brown (@dougbrown8) January 30, 2017

Police arrest 2 men circling immigration rally with Trump flag on their truck. Unclear what charges they face. pic.twitter.com/g2mWSJQ3t6

— Jamie Wilson (@JWilsonreporter) January 30, 2017

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