'Crazy look in his eyes': City manager wrestles armed man who barges into council meeting

Following heightened political tensions in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, a California City Council meeting this week descended into chaos and violence, according to multiple reports.

Arcata City Manager Merritt Perry described seeing a man refusing to sit down before he began to push toward council members. He said he appeared to have weapons on him and had “a pretty crazy look in his eyes, [he] clearly intended to do something."

Perry jumped up and restrained him during the Wednesday meeting, SFGate reports.

The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, apparently punched him multiple times before police officers arrived to detain him.

“He was carrying something under his arm, and it looked like something wrapped in a towel or cloth," Perry said. "For some reason, my mind went to the Charlie Kirk shooting with the shooter wrapping the gun in the towel."

“I just grabbed him, and started pushing him back and he started pushing against me, so I threw him to the ground and started restraining him,” Perry said.

Officers found what turned out to be a Nerf gun. He was also armed with a switchblade and pepper spray, they told SFGate.

An officer had apparently stopped the suspect during the meeting and took away a 40-ounce malt liquor bottle, which they initialy thought "looked like a molotov cocktail," Arcata Police Lieutenant Luke Scown said.

The officer then let the suspect go back to the meeting "because at that moment, he wasn’t doing anything else wrong,” Scown added.

The suspect then moved toward the front of the meeting, near the members.

“At first, I was like, ‘Oh that’s a gun, but it’s not the right color,’” City Council Member Sarah Schaefer told SFGate, saying she was "freaked out" because she saw the butt of a gun sticking out of the man's shirt.

It's unclear why he was there or what his motives were.

“It’s really unfortunate where we’re at as a community and a country today with people resorting to violence,” Perry said.