BELLEVUE, Wash. — A 33-year-old woman faces a felony harassment charge after she pulled out a gun following a confrontation over wearing a mask inside a Bellevue gas station convenience store.
On Jan. 27, Angela Marie Nommensen entered the store without wearing a mask. When the store employee repeatedly asked her to put one on, she refused, according to charging documents.
The store employee physically escorted her out of the store.
As the employee walked back inside, he turned and saw Nommensen pull out a gun and hold it in front of her, according to charging documents and surveillance video.
Nommensen told police she went into the store because she was unable to get her receipt to print after pumping gas, according to charging documents. She told police she had a medical issue that prevented her from being able to wear a mask.
Nommensen told an officer that when she refused to leave, the store employee "attacked her, pushed her and grabbed at her neck," according to charging documents. She dropped her phone and thought the employee was "going to attack her, so she reached to her right hip and pulled out her pistol." The reason she held the pistol in front of her was to show the store employee she was armed and to scare him, she told police.
Nommensen showed an officer a recording she made with her phone. The part of the video she showed the officer "explicitly showed [the employee] asking her to leave the store multiple times," and providing an explanation as to why, according to charging documents.
The officer told Nommensen the employee was allowed to physically remove her by force, within reason.
Nommensen had a valid concealed pistol license from the Pierce County Sheriff's Office at the time of her arrest.