Police on Tybee Island arrested a local man Thursday evening after they say he brought a loaded gun to a City Council meeting.
Donald Augustus Cowart, 61, of Tybee was charged with carrying a weapon in an unauthorized location and disorderly conduct after officers discovered a small handgun on his person at City Hall. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Many of the island’s police officers were at City Hall on Thursday night because one of their own, Erica Coreno, was being awarded officer of the quarter. Police Chief Bob Bryson early Friday morning said several officers noticed a strange odor coming from Cowart, who was sitting in council chambers, when they walked by him.
“There was a very strong odor of marijuana on his person,” Bryson said.
Police then asked Cowart if they could search him, and he gave consent, Bryson said.
“When they searched him — it was in City Hall — he had a gun in his possession, a loaded firearm,” the police chief said. “With the amount of people who have shot and killed people during city council meetings, it’s pretty serious.”
No marijuana was found on his person, Bryson said.
Cowart tried to resist officers when he was being put into a patrol car, Bryson said, and he was taken to the Chatham County jail.
Cowart, known as “Tybee DAC,” ran unsuccessfully for Tybee City Council in 2011 and has faced charges in Chatham County before.
Cowart was indicted in 2011 on seven counts of deposit account fraud; he was indicted that same year on unrelated theft by deception charges.
Prosecutors declined to move forward in either of those felony cases, electing to drop the fraud charges that stemmed from seven bad checks he was accused of writing after he paid back about $1,550 to various Tybee businesses. The theft charges were dead docketed in January 2012 after Cowart and prosecutors agreed to a payment plan to repay about $7,000 the suspect was accused of obtaining from a check-cashing business through cashing two bad checks.
Thursday night, Tybee police had Cowart’s Chevy pickup, which was parked near City Hall, towed. On Friday, Cowart and his lawyer consented to police searching the vehicle in their presence. Inside the truck officers found a “partially burned marijuana cigarette” and another gun, Bryson said.
Cowart was cooperating with police Friday, Bryson said, and officers were in the process of verifying permits and checking the weapons with the ATF. Even if someone has a carry permit, it is against the law in Georgia to take a gun into a government building.
The chief said he would like to re-evaluate security measures for City Hall — such as installing a metal detector — in the future.
“People come into government buildings and shoot people,” Bryson said. “... I don’t want to happen here, and we’re doing everything we can to not have that happen.”