Springs police find man wearing ghillie suit, armed with machete in dollar store parking lot

Colorado Springs Police say a man was cited for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon after an officer spotted him in a parking lot wearing a ghillie suit.

Ghillie suits are typically used by the military for camouflage in areas with heavy foliage.

The police department says the encounter happened at 8:05 a.m. Tuesday in the area of Austin Bluffs Parkway and Barnes Road.

Officer David Nelson was on routine patrol when he pulled into the parking lot of the Family Dollar in the 4600 block of Austin Bluffs Parkway. That’s when the officer spotted the man, identified as Justin Smith, 23, donning the camouflage suit.

The officer said that Smith was behaving suspiciously, so he stopped to talk to him. That’s when he discovered that smith was wearing an 18-inch machete blade on his side.

Officer Nelson said that Smith told him that he slept outside Monday night and that he wears his ghillie suit when he sleeps outside.