Former professional boxer is arrested in Miami for ‘threatening a mass shooting at local gym’

A former professional boxer has been arrested in Miami as police say he was planning a mass shooting at a local gym after attempting to buy an AK-47 from a nearby pawn shop.

Azea Agustama, a 39-year-old who fought for Haiti in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was arrested and jailed Wednesday on two felony counts of issuing written threats to commit a mass shooting, and one count of threatening to kill. He is currently being held on $7,500 bond.

Agustama had been working as a personal trainer at Miami’s BOXR Gym, but, following an altercation with someone at the facility, had his membership revoked and was later issued a trespassing warning on November 11, according to a police report obtained by the Miami Herald.

Then on Tuesday, after telling police he wanted to return to the gym to retrieve belongings, Agustama posted a photo on Instagram from the 2018 Parkland (Florida) mass school shooting, writing that he ‘was considering shooting’ a group of people who say he ‘touched a girl.’

Agustama wrote that he was ‘willing to shoot with a actual gun or bazoka [sic],’ according to the police report, which added that he sent one picture to an individual connected to the gym, writing ‘he’s first when I get my gun.’

Exacerbating the situation, according to police, is the fact that Agustama placed an $150 deposit on an AK-47 rifle at a local pawn shop on Tuesday.

By that point, Miami police were already investigating and ultimately detained him at the pawn shop, where officers say he confessed to posting the threats and attempting to buy the gun.

He is expected back in Miami-Dade court on Wednesday.

Born in Haiti, Agustama moved to Miami and graduated from North Miami Beach High.