A National Guard member from Georgia is facing felony charges after being accused of brandishing his gun at another service member during an argument over Army grooming standards, according to witness reports and an arrest affidavit.
More than 3,000 troops are currently stationed in D.C. to combat what President Donald Trump has called “the destructive forces of criminal activity” in Washington. The troops have been in the District since August 2025, and Trump recently extended their deployment until 2029.
On Aug. 25, a group of Guard members were “sitting in their black van in front of Popeyes” on H Street while they took a break from patrol, court documents said. Zion Mitchell, 21, was seated in the rear row of the vehicle when he got into an argument with a soldier seated in the right front passenger seat, according to the filings.
Mitchell allegedly pulled out his service weapon, held it over another guard’s shoulder and aimed it at the accuser, an affidavit from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia said.
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Mitchell was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence on Sept. 1.
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Several witness accounts of the incident said that Mitchell and the accuser “were engaged in an argument over their hairstyles and whether they were following Army regulations” — standards that underwent significant changes last month.
Mitchell described the argument as “playful” in his interview with police, but the accuser said she told Mitchell to “shut the fuck up” during the altercation.
The soldier then claimed she heard a “holster click,” and said that witnesses later informed her that Mitchell had drawn his weapon. She believed that the firearm in question was loaded, “since all the National Guard’s firearms are generally loaded,” and a witness later confirmed that it had a live round in the chamber.
When asked why he brandished his weapon, Mitchell told a witness, “It doesn’t matter, it was on safe,” according to the arrest record.
With National Guard members deployed to Washington from 18 states, Puerto Rico and D.C., some D.C. residents have gotten used to the presence of armed troops in their neighborhood — while others are still calling for them to be sent home. The National Guard members in D.C. are disproportionately in their late teens and early 20s, and roughly 60% come from Republican-led Southern states.
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