Bay County Sheriff / Panama City Beach Police. Image courtesy Bay County Sheriff Facebook.
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Panama City Beach, Florida is a wonderful, mostly family-friendly vacation destination. Of course, everybody likes a good party. During spring break, it’s also the destination for a lot of college students to party and have fun on the beautiful sugar-white sand beaches there, soaking up the sun and sights.

And with them sometimes come those who could charitably be described as undesirables eager to crash the party, chase girls and sell street pharmaceuticals…not necessarily in that order. In fact, on social media, the bad actors touted their plans to “take over” Panama City Beach this past weekend.

Sure enough, a “flash mob” of a couple thousand from Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama along with some from Atlanta descended upon Panama City Beach as part of what was billed the “PCB Takeover.” These folks raised hell, tearing up property, threatening locals and tourists, and attacking the police when they weren’t shooting up the place.

The locals don’t take kindly to their hometown beaches and tourist areas being “taken over” by invaders acting like thugs. So when the “Takeover” types started arriving and causing problems — including destroying property and shooting at people — the police responded en masse.

Drug and apprehension dogs proved one of the best force multipliers for the police. With the dogs, the cops broke up some of the rowdier groups and parties. While doing so, not only did law enforcement find drugs and make arrests, but they also found the Takeover types brought enough firepower to “supply a small army” according the the local constabulary.

The invaders apparently missed the memo about drinking while toting guns. In fact, they probably missed the memo about Florida’s easy-to-access concealed weapons licenses, too.

The Bay County, Florida Sheriff’s Office released a statement on the recent enforcement actions that led to 160 arrests and confiscation of about 75 guns.

From Facebook . . .

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office responded to numerous incidents on Panama City Beach this past weekend during what some social media groups were calling “PCB Takeover”. The BCSO, Panama City Beach Police Department, Panama City Police Department, the Florida Highway Patrol, and FWC maintained a strong presence on the beach area during the weekend in response to the group’s planned events like house parties, spontaneous parties in parking lots, and concerts.

During the weekend, 161 individuals were booked into the Bay County Jail by all law enforcement agencies. Of the 161 individuals booked into the Jail Facility, 78 were from Alabama. Over the weekend, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office responded to 859 calls for service, 548 of those calls were from the beach zones.

The BCSO arrested 77 adults and 5 juveniles, a total of 82 arrests. A majority of these arrests were for illegal firearms charges. 75 firearms were seized by law enforcement.

Sheriff Tommy Ford credits the successful handling of the “PCB Takeover” crowds using technology and intelligence to target trouble spots and spontaneous crowds. The establishment of the Bay Real Time Operations Center (BayROC), a joint venture between all law enforcement agencies in Bay County, was, as Sheriff Ford says, “a game changer.”

For example, based on specific intelligence, law enforcement raided a house party with some of the main promoters in attendance. At this party, individuals with firearms were arrested and the attendees evicted by the homeowner. BayROC also communicated with law enforcement agencies in the hometowns of some “PCB Takeover” attendees and were able to specifically target and disrupt activities.

“We will not tolerate this criminal activity. These are behaviors that we as a community have fought before, won, and moved on to become a premier family destination,” Sheriff Ford stated. “To anyone coming to Panama City Beach to commit criminal acts with an intent to “Takeover” our beach, we will continue the good fight, and dedicate whatever resources necessary to keep Bay County safe. We are united with the support of our elected officials and our community for the resources we need. I assure you; it will not be a “REAL FUN BEACH” inside the Bay County Jail. If you come here to act like a criminal, we will treat you like one.”

Those arrested and charged this past weekend were:
Keaton Lavell  Arnold Patrick Bass
Ja Quez Lewis  Bandy Keith  Glenn Body
Zykese Boyd  Colby Burroughs
Michaela Carter  Xzander Duncan
Garenton Flowers  Debarius Ford
Rory Gaddy  Braveon Lamar George
Dante Harris Lamar Gholson  Jeremiah Golden
Terry Harris  Tyler Woodard
Lorenzo Hart  Ross Holloway
Elizabeth Hughes  Adrian Jackson
Tracy Madden Chandler  Phillip McMath
Edaniel Means  Jywarrick Miller
Tyan Person  Chantell Prince
Danyell Reese  Omarius Richardson
Lamarcus Ricks  Caleb Sanford
Tywann Sistrunk  Alan Smith
Javis Smith  William Landon Story
Christopher Lee  Thibault Jamoses Thomas
Ja’Quavious Thornton Jordan  Keshoun Tyson
Bra Yaun Jasiyah Vickers  Kambreya Walker
Raphael Walker  Jeremiah Wells
Vivian Williams

Bay County Sheriff / Panama City Beach Police. Image courtesy Bay County Sheriff Facebook.

Feel free to browse the mugshots of many who were arrested.

From the Daily Mail . . .

Police in Panama City Beach, a popular party destination for college students, confiscated 75 illegal guns – enough to supply a ‘small army’ – and arrested more than 160 ‘pathetic cowards’ over the weekend, officials announced during a press conference Monday. 

In a new video, police officers could also be seen unleashing drug hounds on the town’s beach on the same day as the gun bust, prompting dozens of revelers to run and disperse themselves along the white sands. 

‘These guns were taken over a period of two days,’ Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez said, the Panama City News Herald reported. ‘It could arm a small army. Semiautomatic weapons, long rifles – these are weapons brought to a resort destination. These are weapons brought to a beach.’ 

It must be a really small, third-rate, tiny “army” that could be equipped with the few dozen (mostly) handguns that were seized.

Bay County Sheriff / Panama City Beach Police. Image courtesy Bay County Sheriff Facebook.

At the same time, in my personal experience vacationing on those same beaches last summer, the police there aren’t heavy-handed at all. They tolerate public drinking so long as you’re not bringing bottles to the beach or acting like a complete fool. And heaven knows they aren’t frisking folks looking for GATs. I’d know.

John Boch at Panama City Beach, 2021.

I was legally armed for my evening beach walks, usually with both my full-sized primary and a backup piece. It’s what I carry every day. Concealed carry is welcome in Florida for personal defense.

The same applied for my trips, both in the SUV and on foot to the nearby shops and restaurants with the family.  And while I didn’t bring my AR- with me into the condo, it remained securely stowed in the vehicle.

While there and well-strapped, I said ‘hi’ to a couple of the local PCB cops and asked how they liked living and working there. “It’s terrible,” one said with a grin. “You wouldn’t want to live here.” He then clarified that it’s crowded enough without more people moving there. I told him I came from Illinois and he expressed his condolences. Seems he and his family were some of the many who fled Illinois’ FOID cards, gun laws, and high taxes in recent years.

Those cops and others treated me and the family very well. Then again, if you dress and act like a decent human being, cops usually have better things to do than to give you a hard time.

When it comes to good guys and guns, the Bay County Sheriff has no animus towards everyday people who own firearms. Far from it. In fact, they offer firearms safety and tactics classes to the public.

So yes, Panama City Beach remains a good vacation destination, one where you can bring your family for a safe getaway. You can also bring your gun and not worry about getting accosted by LEOs.

At the same time, if you act like a fool when drinking, slap around your significant other or think that smoking weed or selling it on the beach is somehow okay there, you may leave with a lighter wallet or even get to spend a few extra days in the Sunshine State courtesy of the Bay County Sheriff’s Department.

 

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106 COMMENTS

      • No doubt there are some real azzhats coming to FL who are turds in a punch bowl. However the firearms pictured are clean and appear to be from a stolen collection or from a Gun Store and not from a bunch of random out of state dirtbags whose firearms are generally trashed, etc.

    • You know what happened here? I’ll tell you what happened here. Cisgendered heteronormative white male patriarch happened. That’s what. White men capitalism = endless system of exploitation and oppression requiring the heavenly angels of liberalism (democrats), to swoop in, and liberate. Which is why I am here, promoting our dear lord and savior, the US Government.

      White men, are inherently evil, because they are greedy and don’t want to share, and like “freeeeeeedumb.” So I have a bunch of things on list I want you guys to do FOR me. We are going to scrape up a majority, and then “vote” and you guys are going to do the stuff on my list, that I want you to do. And one of those things I want you to do, is defund the police. The people seen in the video above in this article – are the oppressed, downtrodden, exploited, persecuted, destitute individuals seeking equity. They are the exact opposite of the people that should be arrested and imprisoned. It is the rich billionaires hoarding all the money, locking up the economy, and not sharing the wealth, who are responsible for this. And those people are cisgendered heteronormative WHITE MEN! We need to pass laws against them, stripping them of their wealth, and dispersing that wealth to the downtrodden!

      I spent all my life, as a person of color! Well – I’m white, but my hair is purple. And I have a colorful facial tattoo, and I identify as a black pansexual queer man, with pronouns (they/them), which could change by tomorrow, or even this afternoon, but I digress. I have been having trouble obtaining and maintaining employment, and I have concluded, it’s because i’m black. This is why they don’t want to hire me. Everywhere I go – racist white people.

      Also – I have joined a union, and you must be forced to buy my product! That is equity. Some people, are making products extremely cheap and of high quality, and lots of people are buying them, and it’s not fair. People need to be forced to buy my product, so we can share in the wealth and achieve equity. And because this hasn’t happened yet, sometimes we need to loot a store like in the above video. Call it reparations, for centuries of slavery, oppression, and systemic racism!

        • muck, Even if he is the real pencil neck. Who cares? PCB sand, along with most beaches and barrier islands along the Gulf of Mexico have sand as white as processed sugar. It’s a quartz sand. Left here after the last Ice Age. One more thing we thank God for. Along with the Flora and Fauna. No blasphemy intended, but God could have kept the heat and humidity. All that said, what would pencil neck know about it? He’s never walked PCB. And we don’t won’t him too. Him trying to balance that bean bag chair on that twig would scare the children.

        • Gadsden,
          Mom lives in Melbourne. I love the beaches around her home and am more than happy to do without pencil neck and his doppelganger. Mom doesn’t worry too much about the humidity. She says when I’m at home it air conditioned, in the car it’s air conditioned and at the yarn store it’s air conditioned. She’s easy to please! Believe me I feel the difference coming from Colorado to visit.

      • RE: darcydodo “Call it reparations, for centuries of slavery, oppression, and systemic racism”

        Not so fast you perpetual satiring marxist democRat…Call it Reparations when Reparations come straight from the coffers of your Gun Control race baiting democRat Party.

        After all the democRat Party owns lock, stock and barrel the legacy of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, lynching, the KKK, Eugenics, Gun Control and other race based atrocities…You and Your Ilk Alone Can Pay The F Up…cracker.

  2. Mixing naked women with drunken young men and guns is a prescription for disaster and spring break in Florida certainly proved it.

    And Armed society is not a polite society, it is an intimidating one which leads to deadly violence.

    Nothing much has changed in 2,340 years when Alexander The Great killed his best fiend Black Cletus in a drunken brawl with a dagger. More than likely it was over a naked woman. The naked ape can always be counted on to live down to his lowest bestial level. Now you know why European Nations outlaw concealed carry because the amount of lives saved is dwarfed by the amount of lives lost in drunken brawls, road rage and street fighting over naked women.

    • Nothing in your stupid screed mentions death by firearms, only daggers. So what’s your point? Maybe you should go over to The Truth about Daggers and spare us.

      • What I’m trying to say guys, is that humans will always creep down, to their worst selves, and bad things will happen. So we need to implement common sense gun control, just the way Alexander the Great, should have implemented common sense dagger control. Safety is paramount. It should be your top axiom, not “freeeeeeeeeedumb.” and your safety should be the responsibility of the government, not you.

        [using delicate princess voice:] “Oh Dacian! How ever will I keep myself safe” you ask? Well, it not going to be by carrying a firearm. Because you see, you too are human and humans can’t be trusted, so we have to take their freedumb, and that means your freedumb. And how will we do this? We do this, with our beloved FEDERAL GOVERNMENT We need order not chaos. You owning guns, is chaos… for me. And I don’t like it. So we need to create order out of chaos by seizing control of the chaos, which is your actions. We are going to seize control of your actions through government policy, and that is going to make me feel safer. Now, for some reason, I feel unsafe, with you guys carrying guns. But I don’t feel unsafe with the government overseeing the enforcement of us carrying guns. And that’s because while I don’t trust my fellow man, because he might stoop to a criminal level, I do trust my fellow government. I’ve learned to love and respect the government, and they rarely ever make a mistake, and they are super responsible and efficient with their jobs. And they would never, ever abuse their power. That is just something that is never going to happen.

    • dacian, the Dunderhead. Oh please. Give it a rest. The mixture happened to be analogous to racism.

      I’ll bet you anything from dollars to donuts the guns seized were illegally owned to begin with. Want to take that bet?

  3. Keaton Lavell
    Ja Quez Lewis
    Zykese Boyd
    Michaela Carter
    Xzander Duncan
    Garenton Flowers
    Debarius Ford
    Braveon Lamar George
    Dante Harris
    Lamar Gholson
    Edaniel Means
    Jywarrick Miller
    Tyan Person
    Chantell Prince <— stripper?
    Danyell Reese
    Omarius Richardson
    Lamarcus Ricks
    Tywann Sistrunk
    Javis Smith
    Thibault Jamoses Thomas <— Ja Moses!
    Ja’Quavious Thornton Jordan
    Keshoun Tyson
    Bra Yaun Jasiyah Vickers
    Kambreya Walker

    Jesus H. Christ on a cracker. Those are some serious high-value names there. Everyone bound to be classmates of David Hogg next year in the Ivy Leagues, no doubt.

    They're daddies are gonna be so upset when they hear about what their little boys and girls did!

  4. I will withhold judgment until we see how this goes in court and how many weasel out of any charges. If they will actually prosecute these people to the fullest, it might send a message to those who want to raise Hell in PCB; get busted here and face time in the slammer. If they took that many guns off the street in two days, it seems to me there should be a lot of potential felons.

    • I could see a fair number of felonies handed out to send a message. I doubt many areas of Florida would tolerate soft on crime responses after the last 2 years of seeing the rest of the country go nuts.

  6. My wife was there covering spring break for a news outlet, shes a free lance journalists. I can’t show you her video because she doesn’t have permission to release it although I have seen it, but she pointed me to this one if you want to get an idea of which demographic was responsible for 90% of the problems including the firearms > https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-2381564/Video-Spring-Breakers-run-cover-Miami-Beach-police-deploy-teargas.html

  7. Ha, small army, it’s barely a small collection. They could find 75 illegal weapons on any one city block in Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore or Detroit. More scare tactics to stall constitutional carry in Florida.

    • Interesting collection of names. YoMama must be proud!🙄 I guess when homie threatens you you need to pay attention you raciss cracker…

  8. Sadly, constitutional carry covers these people also. I wonder if any are felons, therefore restricted from having firearms. I also wonder if the state will even bring that crime to trial.

      • The devil will be in the details if Fla. con carry actually ever happens, but it’s *possible* it may be drafted to apply only to legal residents.

        Nobody really knows, at this point. But just having guns and being from out-of-state shouldn’t be an issue, AFAIK.

        Act like an ass and get drunk and start shooting, stand tall before ‘The Man’ and explain yourself to him…

  13. Guys, PCB is practically in my back yard. It’s true if you look like a citizen, act like a citizen and: A. Have a family. B. You have a sunburn. C. Stay in your accommodations after 0200 hrs. PCBPB will treat you like the background noise you are. However, if you act like an ass they will crack your skull, you will wake up in a room that you don’t recognize. (Definitely, not the one you paid several hundred dollars a night for.) And, of course, “Why are you guys pulling my panties off?!” Thing. I worked a case with a couple of PCB Detectives that crossed jurisdictions. It was entertaining. First time I saw a beach as a child it was PCB. Now we call it the Redneck Riviera. Please, keep your children at home during Spring Break. The money they spend often exceeds the damage they cause. A net loss for the community. We do not want them! A Circuit Judge I know started out at Daytona Beach P.D. Frank once told me they preferred Bike Week to Spring Break every day on and twice on Sundays. I worked every hurricane my agency sent a deputy to. I never volunteered once for a Spring Break detail. Unless you just intend to come here, visit the Land of the Big Mouse, catch a few fish and take your politics home with you, please don’t come to Florida.

  15. Birmingham Alabama: 62% black
    Montgomery, Alabama: 60% black

    I’m sure there’s some footage of this “invasion” on worldstarhiphop, complete with barely clothed females twerking on top of cars and people fighting in the streets. It’s their culture, don’t you know?

    But yeah, if you notice patterns in statistics or reality, then you’re racist.

  16. We’re the locals warned of the impending invasion so they avoid the area? (Or more importantly prepare Rittenhouse style and take out some trash)

    • Kangs, are you kidding? We don’t need to be warned! We can read a calender. Spring Break is as regular as the tides. If we weren’t ready; how bad do you think they would get. As an aside. I owned a car at sixteen. Had a part time job. Money in my pocket. Never went to the beach in H.S., or college during Spring Break. Like New Year’s Eve. That’s amateur hour. Even back then I knew that.

    • This handle combined with the comment has some sub-level irony that’s thick and rich.

      Intentional, I assume. Pretty hard to pull off by accident.

  17. 75 guns are enough to equip a small army? You gotta be kidding me. 75 guns couldn’t arm the army of Lilliput.

    Cops are bigger braggarts than Biden. I’m surprised they’re not all in medical braces after that much self back-slapping.

    • Now Ralph, you and I and everyone else knows that the “equip an army” was an exaggeration to make a point. I saw the Chief’s interviews on local television. Never met the man, but I know what an L.E. bullshitter sounds like. He didn’t sound like one. I’ll tell you this. Seventy-five firearms seized in a community that small, in that small amount of time, is a lot. My understanding, almost all were seized “incident to arrest”. Not so many “stop and frisk”, or whatever they call it today.

  18. Who would have thought, criminals not following the law.

    As far as supplying an army, Demo Ranch had that covered 🤣a long time ago.

  19. You vote for tomfuckery and then complain that you got what you asked for and rever to a “rights for me, not for thee” attitude.

    But never question the overarching system because you were taught not to.

    Color me shocked.

    Well, get on your knees and fellate that state. Maybe they’ll let you have some table scraps and not end up in a mass grave.

    Don’t understand ^^this^^‽ Feeling a bit emo? Maybe wanna attack the messenger? LOL, you’re a chicken plucked and ready for the pot but you think you’re the chef.

  20. Now Ralph, you and I and everyone else knows that the “equip an army” was an exaggeration to make a point. I saw the Chief’s interviews on local television. Never met the man, but I know what an L.E. bullshitter sounds like. He didn’t sound like one. I’ll tell you this. Seventy-five firearms seized in a community that small, in that small amount of time, is a lot. My understanding, almost all were seized “incident to arrest”. Not so many “stop and frisk”, or whatever they call it today.
    A note to parents: If your children tend to exhibit the type of behavior that we continue to endure in Florida during Spring Break. Please, send them to Oregon or Washington. They seem to welcome their behavior there. Yes, we know the surf is still really cold there. They invented wet suits a long time ago. Thanks for your cooperation.

  21. Here’s something else for you guys to chew on. Some beach businesses in Florida close for the duration of Spring Break.

    • Rick, I know that was tounge in cheek, but I’ll tell you something. You mix youth, alcohol and no hard supervision; it always goes sideways. Always. Regardless of race.

    • more and more “thugs” turning up in Florida…not as bad as the “bad old days”…but getting there…

  24. Rick, I understand the point you make, but to address it. We’re not racist. We hate all spring breakers. Even those from Alabama (almost especially those from Alabama, especially in the panhandle and, well, most of them throughout the year.) Tennessee gets an honorable mention. The real native Floridians don’t care about your sex, race, gender (It’s what you you were born with. Call yourself what you want. We don’t care. We’re still going to call you what you are. Just don’t try to Yankee up Florida. That last is addressed to the snow birds. Here’s an epiphany for you (since you Yankees can’t seem to have one of your own). WE DON’T GIVE A SHIT HOW YOU DID IT UP NORTH! GO BACK UP THERE AND DO IT THAT WAY! AND, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Please, leave us alone. Oh, and we really have enough of your Karen’s. Please don’t send anymore. Thank you.

    • Oh hell no you are taking our Karen’s we finally are getting rid of some of the harpies and we are not taking them back. Joking aside we don’t want the snowbirds either they shit the place up during the summer and make bad traffic into a nightmare for those who still have to work and still manage to vote for higher taxes and more dumbshit restrictions before trouncing off to warmer climates for close to half of the year.

    • Over here in Alabama, we hate spring breakers as well. I worked in Gulf Shores for 10 years. Nothing screws up the beach and the enjoyment thereof than hundreds of drunken, stupid college kids with no adult supervision. Half of them under age and getting even stupider than those who are over 21. As for the confiscated firearms, how many of the dumbarses bringing along weapons have permits to carry? Since most are from out of state, I would hazard a guess few if any. Of course, the kids going on Spring Break are the same dopes demanding we the tax payers pay off their student loans and support their poor decisions throughout their lives.
      Lastly, 75 firearms is what, a platoon? While many are collectables and antiques, I have more than that in the safe.

  25. Exclusive to Mr. Boch, I’ve enjoyed a number of your articles. If you enjoy the Florida panhandle I would suggest South Walton County. County Rd. 30A. I have a friend that has a house on 30A and my sister also owns a town house on 30A. My sister’s place (recently remodeled) is always empty unless she goes over for a weekend. Casey will block out a few days for me whenever I ask. I just pay $100 housekeeping fee. If I can arrange a few days for you at either place. Depending on schedule, it may be at no expense. (Except for everything else and the one dinner you would owe me at Paradise.) This offer is limited to only certain TTAG members. Possum has an open invitation 365. Hunting, fishing, scuba diving, spear fishing, meals, liquor, and whatever… All expenses covered. All others apply.

  26. By the looks of the perps, looks like a gang from Chitcago took a vacation in Florida, but didn’t take a vacation from their thug ways.
    Who’da thunk?

  27. Tried to view the mugshots and the link takes me to Zuckerberg’s Meta creation – Facebook…not gonna happen. I will not willingly give that data whore any more data on me than he has already collected.

    Wow, in Montana you can go to the local jail site and view booking photos (most counties) – the arrests, charges and photos are considered public domain.

    • neiowa During “Spring Break” the weather in Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard is too cold for their precious posteriors.

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