Rodolfo Montoya a Long Beach Marriott Hotel cook arrested after planning mass shooting at work following tip off from co worker. Latest copy cat mass shooting threat.
A disgruntled Long Beach, Marriott employee in possession of what California authorities described as an ‘enormous arsenal’ of weapons stashed at his home has been arrested after telling a colleague he planned to carry out a mass shooting at his workplace.
Rodolfo Montoya, of Huntington Beach, was allegedly plotting to murder his co-workers and Marriott hotel guests with his cache of ‘high-powered firearms’- including two assault rifles, a pump-action shotgun and several pistols – following an undisclosed dispute with his HR department, the LATimes reported.
Montaya’s plan was foiled when the 37-year-old cook revealed his intentions to a colleague who informed their manager. The manager then called the Long Beach Police Department who raided Montoya’s home and seized the stockpile of weapons.
Photographs released by authorities shows a haul of thousands of rounds of ammunition, shotgun cartridges and an array of handguns and rifles.
The volume of weapons meant he would have been capable of causing an attack similar to the Las Vegas shooting in 2017, which resulted in 58 people being killed and 422 more wounded.
#BREAKING #LongBeach police have arrested 37-year-old Rodolfo Montoya of Huntington Beach. He’s an employee of the Long Beach Marriott. This is evidence associated with that arrest/threat that was thwarted by LB Police thanks to a tip from another employee @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/BxISERg6mB
— Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) August 21, 2019
Arrest likely saved many lives:
‘Multiple firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and tactical gear were seized, including high-capacity magazines and an assault rifle, which are illegal to possess in California,’ Long Beach Police officials said in a statement late Wednesday.
Montoya was charged with manufacturing and distributing assault weapons, possession of an assault weapon and making a criminal threat. He is currently being held on $500,000 bail at the Long Beach City Jail.
‘We have seen several tragic incidents that have resulted in many lives lost,’ said LBPD Chief of Police Robert G. Luna in a press conference disclosing the arrest.
‘The witnesses who came forward and the diligence of our employees involved in this investigation very likely prevented a threat of violence and saved many lives.’
“Rodolfo Montoya had clear plans, intent and the means to carry out an act of violence that may have resulted in a mass casualty incident.”https://t.co/VV66rks1O6
— Yahoo News UK (@YahooNewsUK) August 22, 2019
Copy Cat Mass Shooting Threats & Arrests Continue:
Montoya, who worked as a cook for the hotel, allegedly spoke to a fellow employee on Monday about the HR dispute and threatened ‘that he was going to shoot up fellow employees and people coming into the hotel.’
Montoya does not appear to have any criminal history that would prevent him from legally purchasing the firearms, although some of the weapons found by police at Montoya’s home ‘may be illegal to possess,’ along with some of the high-capacity ammunition magazines, Luna said.
Montoya is one of more than 25 people who have been arrested over threats to commit a mass-casualty attack since the shootings in El Paso, Texas – which left 19 dead and the Dayton, Ohio shooting which led to 9 people killed.
The back to back mass shootings in early August marked the 252nd mass shooting in the United States – seven months into 2019.
The locations of the threatened targets are often similar. KSLA reported police saying in at least nine separate incidents, the targets were schools, and at least five cases involved Walmart stores.
The FBI continues to remain on ‘high-alert for copycat shooters’, the agency said.
Welcome to a brave new America….
