Pawn shop denies weapons to customers: possibly prevents mass shootings

Cameron Peterson, a 20-year-old, is accused of targeting multiple locations.

“He was doing well; he was normal,” said Toni Gaytan clerk at Comal Pawn Shop.

Gaytan and Glenn Avriett, both employees at the Comal Pawn Shop in New Braunfels, recently learned that Peterson has pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain a firearm to use and commit a crime.

“Here I was talking to a man who was going to do bad things,” Gaytan said.

Avriett says when Peterson first came in January of this year, he tried to order a gun online for pickup at the store. However, after a background check, the store discovered he was too young to purchase it.

“He tried to buy a shotgun, but it was considered an ‘any other gun’ because it had a pistol grip and a shorter barrel,” Avriett said.

Denied the first time, Peterson returned in May to purchase another gun, but this time he was flagged and the ATF contacted them within half an hour.

“If someone is denied, it’s usually just a denial and we never hear anything,” Avriett said.

Federal officials say video from a New Braunfels park shows Peterson discussing an attack on Buc-ee’s, Canyon High School and New Braunfels High School.

‘Be careful there; that’s all I have to say,” Gaytan said.

His sentencing is scheduled for early next year.