Police in southern California now say a man from in arrested with several weapons in his auto did not make a threat toward a gay pride event.
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A lawyer for a heavily armed IN man who told police he was headed to a gay pride parade when they arrested him IN California says the suspect’s father is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Santa Monica police had responded to a report of a prowler on 17th Street south of Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica, 7 miles away from the Pride Day festival. When they arrived, they encountered the man, who said he was waiting for a friend, according to the Times, citing a law enforcement source. However, they still don’t know why he had several weapons in his vehicle, including three assault-style rifles, ammunition and a “five-gallon bucket of chemicals” that police say could have been used to make a bomb.
A well-known West Hollywood gay bar is considering making armed security guards a regular presence after the mass shooting in an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub Sunday.
Police in Santa Monica, Calif., have confirmed that 20-year-old James Howell of in was arrested this weekend before an LA Pride parade. The suspect did tell investigators he was going to the festival but said nothing about his intentions, Rodriguez said.
A friend of Howell’s, Joseph Greeson, 18, said Howell’s parents in Jeffersonville had not seen him for days and that they called Greeson’s parents looking for him.
The LA Times reported that Howell, who is from IN, was charged there IN October 2015 for intimidation and pointing a firearm at another person. On April 19, Howell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor intimidation, and prosecutors dropped the charge of pointing a firearm. Court records show he was sentenced to a year in state prison and placed on probation.
Rodriguez and Seabrooks say there was no known connection between Howell and the mass shooting in Orlando.
Mayor Eric Garcetti earlier said it is believed the man is completely unrelated to the Orlando massacre.
Howell’s Facebook page, which appeared to have been taken down Monday, showed pictures of a white Acura, similar to the one recovered by California authorities.
Santa Monica police would not confirm the incident, or link it to the Pride Festival underway Sunday at the center of gay, lesbian and transgender life in Southern California.
“We are here as Angelenos, as the LGBT community and allies”, he said.
A News and Tribune article cited by the Times that said in an earlier incident witnesses saw Howell once point his gun at his boyfriend.
‘We will not go back in our closets…. “We are here to march, to celebrate and to mourn”. “She told me and said, ‘I hope you’re safe, sweetie, I love you and let me know that you’re OK, ‘” she said.
David Cooley, owner and founder of the Abbey, was in regular contact with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies at the West Hollywood station to figure out the best safety precautions, Rosman said.
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Signs reading “We Love Orlando” and ’50 lost.
