#TikTok video shows Army soldier aiming loaded pistol at specialist

An Army specialist appeared to be frozen with fear when a fellow soldier aimed a loaded gun at him in a video on the TikTok app — but he insists the footage was staged and the weapon was loaded with dummy rounds, according to a report.

A 17-second clip posted to Twitter Thursday shows a now-former Army specialist, Kyle Benton, locking the slide of a Beretta M9 semiautomatic pistol to make sure it isn’t loaded before putting the weapon front of a fellow soldier who is recording the exchange.

Benton then tells the second soldier that the firearm is “clear” before turning his back and appearing to step away, video shows.

The soldier taking the video then holds up what appears to be a magazine loaded with live ammunition and inserts it into the pistol before chambering a round, according to the footage, which led to an Army criminal investigation, Military.com reports.

“What are you doing, Sergeant?” Benton asks as he returns.

The soldier recording the interaction then raises the loaded weapon and points it at Benton, prompting him to back away in fear, according to the footage, which was posted to Benton’s TikTok account in June, he told Military.com.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Benton said while raising both hands.

Benton said he posted the video to his TikTok account after finishing his service contact and leaving the Army. The former infantryman insisted he held onto the footage for over a year and waited until he was no longer enlisted to post it.

Army investigators reached out to Benton to discuss the clip, but he declined to be interviewed. He also refused to identify the other soldier in what he characterized as a staged video, which led to alarming comments on his TikTok account, Military.com reports.

“I just want people to stop thinking I was the person holding the gun so they can stop threatening me,” Benton told the website. “I will never reveal the person who was holding it.”

The incident sparked a probe by Army Criminal Investigation Command at New York’s Fort Drum, a base spokesman told Military.com, adding that the identity of the second soldier remains unknown.

“US Army soldiers are trained from the first day in Basic Training to respect all firearms,” spokesman Maj. Harold Huff III said. “Military service is a sacred profession, and this horrific video does not represent our values.”

Benton, meanwhile, has posted comments on several Twitter accounts characterized as racially charged and offensive since leaving the Army, Military.com reports.

He was also accused in June of posting Nazi propaganda at a Black Lives Matter rally in Portland, Oregon, according to the report, citing a local Antifa website.

Benton declined to discuss the posts when reached by Military.com, saying he was never investigated for his viewpoints while in the Army.

Huff, meanwhile, said he could confirm only that Benton’s discharge was not related to violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the report.