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INDIANAPOLIS – Federal authorities claim to have stopped a truck driver in Florida in Indianapolis, just days before planning a slaughter against a Tennessee church.
Thomas Matthew McVicker, 38, planned to "demolish" a church in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed Friday in US District Court of South Alabama.
Bartlett police said the notes were left on the doors of the buildings.
Before he could respond to his threats, the FBI arrested McVicker on Monday in Indianapolis, according to court reports. The court did not disclose any details about the arrest.
A spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office in Indianapolis said the files were under seal and declined to comment.
This is the most recent case of men being arrested in the country after saying they wanted to shoot mass.
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Public advice contributed to the arrests that took place Thursday and Friday in Connecticut, Florida, and Ohio. In each case, the police stated that the men, all white and in their 20s, had posted or sent SMS with threats of large-scale shootings.
According to the affidavit in the McVicker case:
– McVicker is a truck driver from Punta Gorda, Florida, but lives in his trailer. One of his friends contacted the FBI on August 12 and said McVicker was planning to kill himself en masse.
"I thought I was shooting down a church, but I'm not afraid it will affect my family in the flesh after I leave," McVicker said in a message to his friend on August 9th.
– McVicker did not explain the motive for the attack, but spoke to his friend about the "spiritual serpents" and the evil "entities" who attacked and tortured him.
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– On August 12, McVicker's mother told an FBI agent that he had a Ruger P90 handgun, was taking medication for schizophrenia, and was occasionally using cocaine and methamphetamine.
– On August 14, McVicker telephoned a witness that he was going to "shoot down" a church in Memphis.
"(The witness) said that McVicker spoke in a frantic way and told him that he was planning to take his knife and slice the pastor's throat," wrote the author. Special FBI agent Ketrick Kelley in the affidavit.
– McVicker asked his employer for a day off on August 22nd. The request for leave indicated that he planned to spend time in Memphis.
The affidavit does not say what church McVicker was planning to attack.
The Memphis police department has been informed of the threat, police spokesman Louis Brownlee said on Tuesday. The Memphis police regularly work with state and federal authorities on this type of threat "to stay ahead of the curve," Brownlee said.
Court records in Alabama show that McVicker received a ticket in June 2014 for driving a truck into an unsuitable alley in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, he was working for Gary's Swift Transportation, in Indiana, at the 39; era. The records show that McVicker did not pay the fine until 13 months later, after the suspension of his driver's license.
In Tennessee, the Bartlett Police Department said two churches had received notes of threats left on their doorstep.
New Hope Christian Church and Christ Church received "threatening notes," according to Bartlett police.
Bartlett's police did not want to know if there was a connection between the two churches that had received threatening notes and threats from McVicker. She added that all relevant threat information was published on social media.
Contributor: Ryan W. Miller, USA Today; Micaela Watts, Memphis Commercial Call, The Associated Press. Follow Vic Ryckaert on Twitter: @VicRyc
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