A former Beaumont city councilman is under police investigation after a special education advocate says he pulled a gun on one of her volunteers during a peaceful demonstration. The Beaumont Police Department identified the alleged gunman as Mike Getz, who represented Ward 2 on the city council for 14 years before losing his seat in May 2025.
According to The Examiner, the incident happened during a demonstration organized by Daisy Ashford, a special education advocate and activist, at Harmony Science Academy Middle High School. Ashford said a red car with a small trailer drove up on Phelan and began picking up her demonstration signs. She told a volunteer to stand down, but the driver allegedly threatened the volunteer with a gun before driving away, per the same account.
Ashford identified the vehicle's driver as the man who took the signs and pulled the gun, and she posted a photo of the suspect's vehicle on social media. She said police were able to apprehend the alleged gunman, and she has said demonstrators would not be moved by the confrontation. Ashford has also said she wondered who sent the alleged gunman on the assignment. The Beaumont Police Department confirmed it investigated the incident as of Wednesday.
A Familiar Pattern of Public Confrontation
This is not the first time Getz's name has surfaced in connection with a public altercation. In 2020, the Beaumont city council censured Getz after he admitted to getting into the face of then-city attorney Tyrone Cooper, an African American attorney, and shouting lewd, hostile remarks at him, according to the same report. The incident, which occurred while Kyle Hayes was speaking with Cooper in a private meeting Getz reportedly wanted to join, was reported to the city's human resource department. Cooper ultimately declined to seek a municipal remedy or pursue a lawsuit.
Getz also described a 2023 parking-lot confrontation at the Grill at Calder's involving Jerry Nathan, the father of Getz's late wife, Allison Nathan Getz. According to Jerry Nathan's account, Getz shoved him out the door; Nathan had been visiting his daughter during her final days before her death from cancer that October. Separately, in a first-hand account Getz shared with KFDM in 2024, he described hitting a man twice on the chin during another altercation, saying he feared for his girlfriend's and his own safety and that the man could have had a gun or knife. Getz has said that confrontation ended without anyone being seriously hurt, and it was captured on camera and shared with local media.
From Council Chambers to Courtroom Risk
Getz spent more than three decades practicing law in Beaumont after earning his Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law, and he listed himself as a “retired attorney” on his 2025 ballot application. He lost his Ward 2 seat that May to challenger Joey Hilliard, who won 2,456 votes to Getz's 2,338 in a tight race, according to Jefferson County election night reporting. Getz's late wife, Allison Nathan Getz, had been the elected Jefferson County Tax Assessor-Collector and voter registrar until her death in October 2023, and Getz later established a $1 million family trust in her memory to support six Southeast Texas nonprofits.
Depending on what investigators determine, Getz could face a range of charges under Texas law. Intentionally threatening someone with imminent bodily injury while exhibiting a firearm can constitute aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony carrying two to 20 years in prison and fines up to $10,000, according to the Texas Penal Code. Knowingly pointing a firearm at another person can also support a deadly conduct charge, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine under Section 22.05. A lesser possibility is disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor under Section 42.01 for displaying a weapon in public in a manner calculated to alarm, which carries up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Recent Ties to Beaumont Police
Getz's alleged confrontation with the protest volunteer comes months after he publicly defended a Beaumont police officer involved in a high-profile use-of-force incident, arguing against judging officers based on short video clips while the city fought open-records requests for the officer's bodycam footage, as reported by 12News KBMT. The city had petitioned the Texas Attorney General to withhold the video, citing limits in redaction technology. Getz's council career had already drawn friction with public-safety labor before he lost his seat; during his 2025 re-election campaign, the Beaumont firefighters union endorsed his opponent amid contentious contract negotiations with the city.
It remains unclear whether the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office will formally accept charges against Getz, whether video or eyewitness evidence captured the alleged gun display, or whether Getz will dispute Ashford's account or claim self-defense. Beaumont police have not released further details on the status of their investigation.
