Johnson City pawn shop operator issued summons for assault following altercation with activist group

The owner of a Johnson City business has been issued a criminal summons following a confrontation with members of a citizen-based activist group inside his store.

Published reports say Volunteer Pawn operator Daryl Lovelace was charged with simple assault after members of the New Panthers reportedly wanted to purchase guns but were denied and then refused to leave the business on West Walnut Street.

The report said Lovelace was trying to block others from entering his shop when police said he grabbed a woman trying to exit and spun her around causing her to fall. That led to group members protesting outside the pawn shop for several hours on Monday.

SuperTalk tried to obtain a copy of the police report that had already been supplied to other media outlets on Tuesday afternoon but our request was denied by a records official who said during our phone conversation that no other reports on the incident were to be issued until further notice. She did not say who gave the directive to deny the information.

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