Police were called about a man who was knocking on doors and “loitering in the area”, Santa Monica Police spokesman Saul Rodriguez said. Police contacted that friend and he corroborated Howell’s story, saying they had recently met online and were going to see each other at the Pride event, but says he had no idea the amount of weaponry being kept in his auto.
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James Howell, a 20 year old IN native, was arrested for weapons possession and possible materials for explosives just hours before he was set to arrive at yesterday’s [Sunday, June 12] West Hollywood Pride parade.
It’s unclear whether Howell intended any violence at the LA Pride event, but the timing of the arrest – hours after the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida – put police and event organizers on heightened alert.
Police say James Wesley Howell was headed to a Los Angeles gay pride event with assault rifles and explosive materials. However, it was unclear if that was connected to Howell’s arrest.
Kristen Jaeger holds a sign of remembrance at LA Pride.
What is known however is that Howell’s past behavior demonstrates a hot temper and penchant for armed intimidation of those around him.
According to TMZ, Howell has a criminal history with guns, having pointed one at a neighbor in IN after a heated debate, he is now on probation for that crime. A neighbor called the Santa Monica Police reporting a suspected prowler. The caller stated that there was a suspicious person knocking on the door and window and a auto parked the wrong way on the street outside.
Officers had arrived to find Howell sitting in his white Acura. They found two more assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and ammunition and a five-gallon bucket with chemicals that could be used to make an explosive device, police said.
“The boy was young and dumb and had a mouth on him”, said Jeremy Hebert, a former IN neighbor who was once threatened at gunpoint by Howell, according to court documents.
Lutheran Bishop Dean Nelson rides in a Ford Mustang at the LA Pride parade.
Howell was also charged with a level 5 felony for pointing a firearm at another and intimidation October 15, 2015, in Clark County, Indiana.
During one trip to a gun range, she said Howell told her: “I wish I could kill a lot of people”.
On Monday, Indiana prosecutors filed a petition to revoke his probation, according to court records.
In the incident, the teenager claimed Howell pointed a rifle at him, but witnesses living with Howell said Howell only carried the gun on his shoulder while asking the teenager to leave.
Items removed from a auto are displayed on a sidewalk after a heavily armed man was arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., early Sunday, June 12, 2016.
A friend of Howell’s, 18-year-old Joseph Greeson, said Howell’s parents in Jeffersonville hadn’t seen him for days and that they called Greeson’s parents looking for him.
“James told me that if I stepped foot in his yard, he would shoot me”, the ex-boyfriend told a responding officer, according to a police report.
“He likes his guns”, Hambrick said.
There may have been complaints of over-commercialization during the lead up to this year’s celebration, but, as any longtime denizen of West Hollywood knows all too well, defiant celebration has been a part of Pride since the very beginning. TMZ, meanwhile, reported that he got into an argument with a neighbor past year before pulling a gun on him. An Oct. 21, 2015 story in the News and Tribune said Howell threatened neighbors and a boyfriend with a gun in Charlestown, a city in Clark County, Indiana.
“People need a space to come and grieve together”, said Francis Gaudreault, head of the Church-Wellesley BIA.
“I spoke with the deputy who handled the case and she explained to me that there were some inconsistent statements by witnesses as far as exactly what happened”, Mull said. “But you just can’t ever tell with some people”.
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Louisville, Kentucky, attorney Bobby Boyd tells station WDRB-TV that the father of James Wesley Howell is shocked by his 20-year-old son’s arrest and is talking to investigators.
