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Potential mass shots in California and Tennessee – at a Long Beach hotel threatened by an unhappy employee and inside a Memphis church targeted by a truck driver who saw "snakes and Spiders "- were thwarted by growing concern about potential shooters' behavior, officials said.
On Friday, in Indiana, authorities arrested Thomas Matthew McVicker, a 38-year-old truck driver who reportedly threatened to "kill" a church in Memphis. He made "credible threats to carry out mass shootings and suicide," an FBI special agent said in an affidavit sworn by the Associated Press. McVicker was arrested by Indiana State Police and the FBI.
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Earlier this month, a friend of McVicker living in Alabama told an FBI agent in Florida that McVicker was planning to open fire in a church or kill random people in the street. But during a subsequent phone call, his friend said that McVicker had planned his mass shooting in a church while he was in Memphis on Thursday. He reportedly told his friend that he "intended to take his knife and slice the pastor's throat".
According to his friend, McVicker claimed to want to kill people because "they put spiritual snakes and spiders in my bed at night." According to the affidavit, McVicker stated that he "had only seen them twice, but they take shape and I can feel them crawling on me and under me".
The driver of the truck apparently would not have said there was a specific church in which he was planning to put his threat into effect, but the authorities say he "insisted that" something "happens when it is in Memphis."
By the way, in California, Rodolfo Montoya, a 37-year-old "disgruntled" chef at a Long Beach Marriott hotel, was arrested Tuesday after a co-worker said Montoya had threatened to shoot everyone in the establishment.
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Apparently annoyed by a human resource problem, Montoya reportedly informed his colleague of the plan and the latter informed the police, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Investigators said they discovered "several firearms, hundreds of ammunition cartridges and tactical equipment seized, including large magazines and an assault rifle" at Rodolfo Montoya's home.
(Long Beach Police Department)
Authorities raided Montoya's apartment in Huntington Beach and, in a press release, announced the discovery of "several firearms, hundreds of ammunition cartridges and tactical equipment …" including large capacity magazines and an "assault rifle" – items that the police say it's illegal to own. in California.
Montoya had "clear plans, the intent and the means to commit an act of violence that could have resulted in a large number of casualties," said Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna. "Because this has been reported, I firmly believe that many lives have been saved."
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The arrests of McVicker and Montoya are just the latest in a series of similar incidents in which men have been arrested for threatening killings. Last week, three men – Brandon Wagshol, 22, from Connecticut; Tristan Wix, 25, from Florida; and James Reardon, 20, from Ohio – were arrested after local authorities were informed of their alleged threats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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