LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — A Loveland man who’s accused of holding two door-to-door salesmen at gunpoint on Thursday allegedly told them “they were Antifa and he would shoot them,” according to an arrest affidavit.
On June 11 at 6:02 p.m., the Loveland Police Department received a 911 call from a man reporting that members of the anti-fascist activist group Antifa were in his neighborhood. He said he had seen them in the area earlier and was going to confront them while wearing his tactical gear. He told a dispatcher he was a former police officer and would drop to the ground once police arrived at the scene, according to the affidavit.
As police responded to the scene along the 600 block of S. Edinburgh Drive, dispatchers received more calls about a man pointing a gun at a person’s neck. According to those initial reports, there were five people outside — two with guns — and some sort of standoff. When police arrived, they didn’t see anybody but were redirected a few houses down to the 2400 block of Dawn Court by two people outside who said they had heard yelling east of them, according to the affidavit.
Around this same time, dispatch reported that more people were calling in from that same area of Dawn Court.
According to the affidavit, when the reporting officer arrived, he saw another officer holding three people at gunpoint in the driveway. All three were on their stomachs.
One of them, later identified as 65-year-old Scott Austin Gudmundsen, was armed with what appeared to be a rifle, pistol and a camouflaged armored vest. The other two, who were both in their 20s, had clipboards next to them with pamphlets.
Gudmundsen was detained at 6:14 p.m., according to the affidavit.
The men with clipboards told police they had been in the area the previous day, June 10, selling roof inspections. When they contacted Gudmundsen at his home, he asked them to leave, which they did, according to the affidavit.
While the pair was talking with another homeowner, Gudmundsen approached them and demanded to see an identification card. One of the men showed Gudmundsen his personal ID and a solicitors ID. After a discussion, Gudmundsen apologized, according to the affidavit.
According to the Loveland Police Department, the two men were wearing white surgical masks, shorts and polo shirts showing their company name.
The following day, June 11, the men were canvasing a different section of the same neighborhood. After speaking with a few people, the pair was approached by Gudmundsen, who pointed what appeared to be a small assault rifle at them, according to the affidavit. He started yelling at them to get on the ground and called them terrorists, “saying they were Antifa and he would shoot them,” according to the affidavit.
One of the men later told police he did not want to die, so he complied with the orders.
The other man told police that Gudmundsen was jamming his gun into his back while kneeling on top of him. He told police he asked Gudmundsen not to kill him, to which Gudmundsen replied that "he was not going to kill him, the police would," according to the affidavit.
When police arrived on scene, he saw Gudmundsen standing over one of the men and pointing a pistol at his back. At the time, Gudmundsen was armed with two loaded pistols and his tactical vest, which contained more magazines, according to the affidavit.
According to Loveland police, Gudmundsen was detained without incident on felony menacing and false imprisonment charges.
He was later released on bond from the Larimer County Detention Center.
The two salesmen have filed mandatory protection orders against Gudmundsen, according to court documents.
One of the salesmen is a student-athlete at Colorado State University, according to reports. But school officials have declined to identify the player.
