A retired lawyer is accused of threatening pro-life activists in Conway, South Carolina, with a grenade that was later determined to be deactivated.
The incident happened November 2 around 10:00 a.m. outside St. Anne’s Episcopal Church on Main Street where the pro-life activists had gathered, WMBF News reported Monday.
Police responded to the scene and were told the four activists were protesting on the sidewalk when the suspect, identified as Richard Lovelace, came out of the building and walked up to them.
The suspect then allegedly held up what appeared to be a grenade and moved closer to the group.
The pro-life group, Survivors, shared video footage of the encounter, showing the man with the device. He appeared to identify it as a grenade, and when asked why he had it, he said, “For y’all.”
The group’s post read:
Survivors was protesting outside Saint Anne’s this morning because many of their members and high leadership, including Lovelace’s wife who is a board member at the church as well as a judge in South Carolina, are big supporters of Palmetto state abortion fund; they partner with Planned Parenthood to traffic abortion pills into the state and help women travel outside of the state to kill their children. The police arrived immediately after he threatened us and was detained.
Social media users were quick to comment on the video, one person writing, “This is insane” while someone else said, “There is something very seriously wrong going on with the Left in America.”
Authorities said after reentering the building, Lovelace gave the device to someone else.
“Lovelace‘s warrants allege that he showed the grenade in such a way that the protesters feared for their lives and believed it was active,” the WMBF report stated, adding that police said the grenade had its detonator removed.
The suspect, who was later released from jail on a $60,000 bond, was charged with four counts of having a hoax device or replica of a destructive device and using it to threaten people.
The news comes after a Catholic pro-life activist was hit in the face and left bloody while doing a street interview in New York City, Breitbart News reported in April.
