A former Mississippi campgrounds workers caught on video pulling a gun on an African-American couple and ordering them to leave was convicted on a misdemeanor charge last Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
Ruby Nell Howell, who was fired by Kampgrounds of America earlier this year, pleaded not guilty to the charges in June. However, Oktibbeha County Judge Larnzy Carpenter found the 70-year-old woman guilty of threatening exhibition of a weapon and ordered her to pay a $250 fine.
Ruby Howell, 70, in a book photo after turning herself in to police on charges that she threatened a Black couple with a gun as they enjoyed a campground in Mississippi. (Photo: Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Deptartment)
Court records obtained by The Dispatch show Howell must also pay $182 in court fees.
Howell won’t be jailed over the incident, however.
The conviction comes just months after Black couple Jessica and Franklin Richardson shared video of the moment Howell confronted them with a gun at the Oktibbeha County Lake in late May. Jessica detailed the bizarre incident on Facebook, writing that she, her husband and their pooch were out for a stroll at the KOA site when the elderly woman approached them and told them to leave because they didn’t have a reservation.
“I’m just telling you you need to leave because it’s under private ownership,” a pistol-toting Howell is heard saying in the video. “Y’all just can’t be out here.”
“We didn’t know,” Richardson responds. “All you had to do is tell us to leave, and we would’ve left. You didn’t have to pull a gun. That’s all you had to say.”
The couple said they later learned they didn’t need a reservation at all.
KOA, which manages over 500 campsites across North America, terminated Howell on May 28.
“Kampgrounds of America Inc. will not tolerate such behavior among our employees, our franchise partners or their employees,” the company said in a statement. “Everyone, regardless of all preferences or ethnic backgrounds, is welcomed as our guests.”
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