A man with a 9mm gun tucked in a backpack was arrested at The Villages Regional Hospital.
Sumter County sheriff’s deputies responded at about 11 a.m. Monday to a report of an armed and dangerous person.
The deputies made contact with 30-year-old Michael Trumaine Benn of Leesburg, who was wearing a dark hoodie and carrying a backpack, standing near an SUV. They ordered him to lay down on the ground and then put him in handcuffs. He permitted the deputies to search the backpack which turned up the gun, an extended magazine containing 22 9mm bullets and 14 additional 9mm bullets. The backpack also contained a bag of marijuana.
Benn, a convicted felon, said he knew he was not allowed to possess a firearm. He told deputies that when he picked up the backpack, he did not know a gun was in it.
At the time of the incident, the State of Florida was in a state of emergency due to Hurricane Irma.
He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center where bond was set at $23,000.
