When Duy Tran moved into his apartment a few days ago, he wasted no time in hanging an American flag from the balcony.
"It means a lot to me," he told KHOU-TV in Houston.
But Tran said the manager of the Lodge on El Dorado apartments doesn't see it that way, and told him he had to take down his flag because it's a “threat to the Muslim community."
Tran said the reasoning "stunned him," adding to KHOU that “I’m not a threat toward anybody."
When the station attempted to ask an apartment manager if that's what Tran was told, the manager was seen on video simply handing the reporter a statement, refusing to answer questions...
...and calling an officer to escort the news team off the property in Webster, Texas.
The statement reads:
"While the Lodge on El Dorado admires our resident's patriotism, we must enforce our property rules and guidelines. Such guidelines maintain the aesthetics of our apartment community and provide for the safety of all residents. The apartment community already proudly displays our country's flag in a safe and appropriate manner at the entrances to our community."
Patriotic symbols were seen hanging from other balconies in the complex, KHOU reported.
"I’m gonna leave my flag there, as an American, until she shows me proof that I don’t have the right to leave my flag there," Tran told the station. "I have friends that died for this country."
KHOU reported no other apartment complex residents were heard from complaining about any flags or patriotic items on display, and that several of Tran's neighbors said they want his flag to stay.