Customer threatens store employee with handgun after being asked to wear a mask

When a store employee in Albuquerque, New Mexico, tried to enforce the state's face mask mandate to a customer, he found himself on the receiving end of a threat, KOAT7 reports.

Cody Westfall, who works at a pet store, says the man who refused to wear a mask entered the store with a gun on his hip. When Westfall asked him if he happened to have a mask that he could put on, things took a threatening turn.

“At that point he stopped and kind of turned around to me and asked, you know, ‘are you going to make me wear a mask?’ To which point I mentioned that not only is it a personal preference for our store but as of yesterday it is now government mandated,” Westfall said.

“He looked down and then looked back up and said ‘are you sure you're going to make me wear a mask?’” Westfall added.

Westfall says he knew things were getting serious when the man threatened him a second time. He called the police as soon as the man left the store.

Watch KOAT7's report on the story below: