The national guards who thoroughly transported Covid-19 vaccines through Texas were held at gunpoint.
Larry Harris is accused of following a convoy of National Guard soldiers before trying to chase them off the highway in Lubbock County several times, according to Eric C. Williams, Idalou police chief.
Harris, 66, of Wilcox, Arizona, eventually turned his truck into oncoming traffic and stopped three National Guard buses near Idalou, Williams said. He then aimed a gun at a soldier, identified himself as a detective, ordered the guards out of their vehicles and, according to their police, demanded to search their vans.
The guards were uniformed and transported vaccines to Matador, Texas.
Idalou police responded and were able to arrest Harris without incident, Williams said. He has a 45-caliber loaded Colt 1911 pistol, an extra-loaded magazine on his person and another loaded magazine in his truck.
None of the guards were injured, and the vaccines eventually came to Matador.
The vaccines did not appear to be the ones Harris was after, officials said. He told police he thought people in the pickups had abducted a woman and child, Williams said.
“It looks like Mr. Harris is mentally disturbed,” he said. “It was a very dangerous situation, as the suspect was standing with a loaded weapon in the middle of the unarmed guard. When the Idalou officers arrived on the scene, the officers or the suspect were injured.”
Harris faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful confinement of 11 National Guard soldiers, unlawful carrying of a weapon, imitation of a civil servant, and interference with military forces in Texas.
He is being held at the Lubbock County Detention Center. An attorney has not been listed for Harris in the jail register.
The Department of Homeland Security is involved in the investigation, and additional federal charges against Harris are expected, Williams said.
