A man who sparked panic by walking into a Walmart with a rifle and body armour told police he was testing his right to bear arms in public.
Dmitriy Andreychenko entered the shop heavily armed, days after a mass shooting at another of Walmart's stores.
“I wanted to know if that Walmart honoured the second amendment,” the 20-year-old told police after his arrest.
Prosecutors have charged him with making a terrorist threat.
If found guilty, the charge could result in a four-year prison sentence and a fine of $10,000 (£8,300), Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson said in a statement.
On 8 August, Mr Andreychenko entered the store “armed with an AR style rifle slung across his chest”, police said, wearing a ballistic vest and recording himself. Both the rifle and a handgun he carried were loaded.
He told police he did not expect the reaction his walk generated.
“This is Missouri, I understand if we were somewhere else like New York or California, people would freak out,” he said, according to police filings.
Days before, 20 people had been killed in a Walmart in El Paso by a gunman carrying an automatic rifle.
The police statement also revealed that his wife, Angelice, had told him “it was not a smart idea”.
“She told him that people were going to take this seriously…
