The Sacramento Marine veteran who went on a wanton tirade against an elderly Laotian man for wearing a commercial camouflage t-shirt isn’t a real Marine after all, it seems.
After making a fool of himself and becoming a viral villian on the internet, Alex Wolpert now claims that he thought the 70-year-old Laotian man was impersonating a current-day servicemember to get money from passersby.
“This gentleman appeared as if he was current, active military,” Alex Wolpert, the man in the video, told the Sacramento Bee on Wednesday. “It’s because they get discounts, it’s because they get free stuff.”
According to The Sacramento Bee, Wolpert claimed the man was wearing a “US Army”-branded hat, which did not show up in the video.
A Sacramento native, Wolpert asked the man if he served in the armed forces.
“I don’t think he spoke much English, and at that point, I was a little triggered,” he said.
Wolpert -who later admitted he wasn’t a Marine- became aggressive with the elderly man, who fought alongside American forces in Laos during the Vietnam War.
During the incident, Wolpert had also allegedly grabbed the man by his collar and threatened to kill him.
“I was caught up and emotionally upset,” he said, dismissing his claim that he was a Marine who had fought for his country and adding that he comes from a military family.
The unnamed Laotian man was simply heading to a farmer’s market when Wolpert accosted him on May 13.
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