Man with weapons and possible explosives arrested, was going to L.A. gay pride parade, sources say

[TomCADem]

Source: LA Times

Authorities in Santa Monica found possible explosives as well as assault rifles and ammunition Sunday in the car of a man who told them he was in town for the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood, a law enforcement source said.

Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call of a suspected prowler near Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street. Patrol officers responded and encountered an individual who told officers he was waiting for a friend. That led officers to inspect the car and find several weapons and a lot of ammunition as well as tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb.

The car had Indiana plates. The man made comments that he was in town for the Pride event in West Hollywood this weekend. The source said authorities did not know of any connection between the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday morning and the Santa Monica incident. The investigation has been taken over by the FBI.

A city official in West Hollywood also confirmed the arrest and stressed that officials were beefing up security at the gay pride event.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/la-me-ln-gay-pride-la-weapons-20160612-snap-story.html

---

Edit to add: This is separate from the mass shooting in Orlando.

[retrowire]

1. WTF is going on? nt

[Helen Borg]

22. Mass shootings...

More and more people with nothing to lose.

[David__77]

2. I wonder if this is another Islamic State supporter.

I hope that whether or not this is the case is quickly determined.

[TomCADem]

6. If he Islamic, Then It Becomes a Big Deal, If Not...

...and it like the abortion clinic shooter, Sandy Hook, Charleston, Colonbine, etc., it will be dismissed as a one off.

[IronLionZion]

11. There are a lot of one offs

the once in a lifetime isolated incidents keep happening on a daily basis.

[MariaThinks]

28. i wonder. same MO

[Mrs. Overall]

3. This is the result of politicians and candidates who speak hate and promote bias--

This is the legacy of the tea party and prejudiced Americans who support that asshole, Trump.

Giving hate a platform emboldens horrible violence like this.

When will the conservatives wake up?

[SusanCalvin]

4. Bingo.

They set up the atmosphere for this.

[kentauros]

9. When will they wake up?

When one of their own commits such an act against their own. If a tea partier goes nuts at a tea party gathering, with plenty of documentation at home (manifesto, suicide note, whatever) as additional convincing evidence.

Of course all of that would have to make through their force-field of denial...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. "This is the legacy of the tea party and prejudiced Americans who support that asshole, Trump."

What an absolute load of crap.

This the legacy of the person who pulled the trigger.

[rockfordfile]

14. This has to do with Conservative Republicans

[alarimer]

37. Really? There are no links between hateful rhetoric and things people do?

None at all?

Yet so many here complain about Trump's rhetoric. And all is rainbows and kittens at his rallies, right???

[NickB79]

21. Religious extremists have been preaching hate for millenia

It's hard to blame the Tea Party and Trump for something that various groups around the planet have been participating in since Biblical times.

However, since conservative politicians have been key in destabilizing large portions of the world and creating fertile breeding ground for extremist groups to take hold (the Taliban under Reagan and ISIS under GWB), you can still make a case for their blame. You just have to look further back in history than the past election cycle.

[Delphinus]

26. You are right.

What will wake them up to this?

[snooper2]

33. Did you know that apparently he is bisexual?

[roamer65]

5. Assault weapons...plural.

That means it was an arsenal for multiple shooters.

[MadBadger]

7. And it means his friends are still out there

[One_Life_To_Give]

12. Not necessarily in the US

Elsewhere yes, but US mass shootings typically see the shooter armed with multiple weapons. Presumably so they don't have to reload or in case one malfunctions.

[tabasco]

8. Let there be no doubt....

The USA is on the downward slide into dysfunction and insanity.

The hate-sowing plutocrats, their paid lackeys and the gullible reich-wing followers are winning. The plutocrats wish to keep working people at each others' throats so we do not reverse their continuing accumulation of wealth, control and power.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. Let's see if Daesh takes credit for this guy too....

Next up: Daesh takes credit for damage caused by a tornado.

[flamingdem]

15. Could it be that his "friend" didn't show up?

Thus he was prowling around looking for this person?

Not clear what this guy was doing in that neighborhood but it does seem like there's another person to locate.

Good on the Santa Monica police and the neighbor who called in.

[bluevoter4life]

16. 2 questions

1) Do we know if this and Orlando are connected?

2) What is the race of the shooter? Methinks I know, hence media silence on specifics…...

[6chars]

17. 2 answers (according to one article at least)

1) unclear
2) white

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/santa-monica-police-arrest-man-901887

[bluevoter4life]

23. Thank you.

Been at work all day Haven't had much of a chance to see the latest.

[6chars]

25. This article has details

http://ktla.com/2016/06/12/man-with-weapons-possible-explosives-arrested-in-santa-monica-said-he-was-going-to-l-a-gay-pride-parade-report/

Guys name is James Wesley Howell. They have photo too. Seems he indeed had bad intentions.

[herding cats]

18. Source: this just went out to top LA law enforcement officials. Suspect w/ assault weapons, camo

Source: this just went out to top LA law enforcement officials. Suspect w/ assault weapons, camo arrested in WeHo.

https://mobile.twitter.com/RobertFaturechi/status/742030062854119424

This sounds like another tragedy was averted here!

[suffragette]

19. Photo of some of the weaponry confiscated

:small


https://mobile.twitter.com/jeffnguyen/status/742056150565163009?p=v

Damn, this is frightening.

[smirkymonkey]

20. This country is seriously effed up.

WTH?

[herding cats]

24. ‘Heavily Armed’ Man Arrested in Santa Monica Wanted ‘to Harm’ Gay Pride Event: Authorities

Seabrooks later tweeted that the Howell allegedly told an officer "of wanting to harm Gay Pride event during arrest for weapons and explosive materials possession."

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti earlier confirmed the incident during a news conference in West Hollywood shortly before the parade's scheduled kickoff at 10:45 a.m.

"Today, we were also informed of ... an individual here ... who said he was coming to Pride, and who was heavily armed and apprehended by Santa Monica Police Department officials last night," the mayor said.

In a statement released a short time after the mayor's comments, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the male was "in possession of weapons and other dangerous material."

http://ktla.com/2016/06/12/man-with-weapons-possible-explosives-arrested-in-santa-monica-said-he-was-going-to-l-a-gay-pride-parade-report/

?quality=70&strip=all&strip=all
James Wesley Howell is seen in a booking photo provided by the Santa Monica Police Department after his arrest on June 12, 2016.

I'm so glad this one was stopped before they could implement their plan!

[riversedge]

27. Glad they got this one!

[DesMoinesDem]

29. This could turn out to be nothing at all.

The guy is bisexual and the police retracted that he said he was going to the parade to do harm. I bet it ends up just being a guy with guns in his car that was going to the gay pride parade to have a good time.

[Blue_Tires]

30. I dunno...

Leaving home without telling anyone, the guns plus the ammo plus the tannerite plus the requisite camo suit, and just sitting in his car at 5 a.m. doesn't smell right...

[DesMoinesDem]

31. I've had guns and ammo and tannerite in my car

So have tens of thousands of other people. There is nothing strange about that. I'm not sure why the time or camouflage clothing you make you think he was going on some shooting rampage.

[Blue_Tires]

32. Would you still have that stuff in your car

for a 1900-mile road trip to a pride parade, as opposed to say, a quick jaunt up to the local shooting range??

[DesMoinesDem]

34. I wouldn't bring guns on an interstate trip or to California

but a lot of people would. It doesn't make you a potential mass shooter. There needs to be some actual evidence that he was planning something for me to believe it. A person with guns in their car isn't evidence of anything.

[Blue_Tires]

35. Fair enough...

We'll see... I did read that Howell is far from a model citizen in his hometown, so it won't take long to find out one way or the other...

[rockfordfile]

36. The guy clearly has problems.