BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The owner of Liberty Firearms and Survival told Eyewitness News on Friday that a day after we reported the landlord of the commercial space, Miami-based Gator Investments, had him remove flags, he’s now been allowed to put the flags back up.
Ben Teaford, Liberty’s owner, put up the flags and signs on Monday to show support for law enforcement officers after the tragic Dallas shootings.
The landlord told Teaford to remove the flags on Wednesday, but a reason was never given.
“I was enraged that I can’t support something that our business believes in,” Teaford told Channel 9’s Field Sutton on Thursday.
Teaford told Eyewitness News in an email on Friday, “I want to once again thank you for the support and helping us get these flags back up. We have 253 flags sold at this point and are being flooded with more orders.”
Lisha Miller with Gator Investments emailed Sutton and told him, “The tenant was contacted & encouraged to re-install the flags yesterday morning (7/14/16) after management and ownership was advised of what had occurred.”
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However, as of our 5 p.m. newscast on Thursday, the flags were not up.
Late Friday afternoon, Gator Investments sent Eyewitness News another email.
“We are surprised that the tenant placed the flags and banners without permission. Our policy is for all tenants to submit their requests prior to installation and, as Mr. Teaford acknowledged, he has not had an issue in the past when that has been followed. As soon as we learned what happened, the tenant was encouraged to re-install them.”
Teaford told Eyewitness News he has never had to seek permission for non-permanent installations in the past.
Contact Field Sutton for more on this story.
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