VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A Virginia Beach shooting survivor was arrested after telling his boss he did not want to return to work in the building where the shooting happened.
John McIvor was inside Building 2 last month when a gunman opened fire, killing 12 people.
He works in the IT department and for the past month, he's been working in Building 17.
This week, he was told he was going back to work in Building 2.
"Those people lost, you know, their lives in there and I think, you know, that right now isn't the time -- I wasn't ready to go back in there and work," McIvor said . "I don't want to be coerced to go back in there, you know? I wanted to talk to HR and see what my options were."
Not wanting to return to the scene of the shooting, he met with a supervisor Tuesday to talk about the situation and court records say McIvor became agitated and angry, storming out of the office.
The next day, police came to McIvor's place of work and arrested him.
The supervisor had apparently gone to the magistrate and took out a warrant against McIvor for disturbing the peace.
"The allegation is that he was agitated, that he was annoyed, that he raised his voice, and those things may be true, but they're not criminal. It's not criminal to raise your voice, it's not criminal to be agitated and I think under the circumstances, it's extremely understandable that he would feel that way," said Taite Westerndorf, McIvor's attorney. "When I read the criminal complaints, I was outraged, not only as an attorney but as a member of the community to see that this is how we're treating the survivors of the tragedy."
McIvor spent 24 hours in jail.
He said he simply doesn't want to go back into Building 2 and wants the charges to be dismissed.
He's scheduled to be back in court in July.