An Arizona man was arrested and charged Sunday after pulling a loaded gun on an African American delivery driver. According to CNN, Valentino Tejada was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct involving weapons after he pointed a gun at Dimitri Mills, who was making a delivery at the complex on behalf of DoorDash.
Mills told CNN he had just arrived at an apartment complex in Mesa on Sunday, when a man holding a gun confronted him.
“When I exited my vehicle, he had his gun drawn to me,” Mills told CNN. “I knocked on the customer’s door and let her know that her order was outside and that we need help because a guy had pulled a gun out on me.”
The man holding the gun
was later identified as Tejada. Mills said he explained several times to Tejada that he was at the complex to deliver food and meant Tejada no harm. After making the delivery, Mills said Tejada blocked him from returning to his car.“The guy was in between me and the car and wouldn’t let me go past him,” Mills said.
Residents at the complex called the police at Mills’ urging. Tejada told police that he was almost hit in the parking lot by Mills’ vehicle and that prompted him to follow Mills, gun in hand. However, according to CNN, the arrest report notes “no witnesses were identified to corroborate his statement.”
Tejada was cooperative with police and was taken into custody without incident.
Mills’ attorney, Benjamin Taylor, told CNN, “We want to get justice in this case and we want to make sure this person is prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
The incident follows a disturbing pattern of African American men being killed by white men. Ahmaud Arbery was killed in February while jogging through a Georgia suburb. Doug Lewis, a 39-year old African American man, was shot and killed by Anthony Trifiletti following a minor traffic accident.