Oopsy! Jacksonville Station's Security Guard is Arrested (Updated)

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Yesterday, white supremacist Richard Spencer was making an appearance at the University of Florida.

WJAX sent some news crews down to Gainesville to cover the story of the racist on the college campus.  The station decided to be safe, they would hire a security guard to keep and eye on the crew and the equipment.

Well damn!  The security guard ended up getting arrested for carrying a gun in a "gun free zone."

Oops....

When the station was called out on social media for it, WJAX News Director Bob Longo responded. 

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Not sure we are buying the whole we were "unaware he would be carrying today" line. If the guy wasn't armed, then really what good would he be? 

It's never good when the person you hired is arrested. 

The station could have saved the embarrassment by hiring an off-duty cop that would be allowed to "carry". 

But, we're guessing that might have cost a few more bucks than the rent a cop. 

Update: In an earlier version of this story, we said that WJAX did not run the story, WJAX News Director Bob Longo emailed us and said that his station ran the story of their security guard being arrested "multiple times".  FTVLive looked online for the story of the station's security guard being arrested and could not easily find the story. 

Here is one story the station ran saying that two people were arrested, but they never said it was a person that the station employed.

Longo sent this statement to FTVLive:

"We ran the story about the security guard being arrested MULTIPLE TIMES between 5p and 11:35 last night AND I addressed it on social media in an honest, straightforward way. We’re not embarrassed whatsoever and I’m certainly not going to apologize for putting the safety and security of our people at the top of my priority list. Cost was never a factor.  Cox Security used a respected, experienced security firm to assist us. One of those employees made a terrible error in judgement, for which he paid the price."

If the station is not embarrassed that one of the people THEY hired, they should be. Also, the station is responsible for the security guard's actions, since it was the station that hired him.   

FTVLive cannot confirm or deny if this was the security that the station hired.