Police across the nation stopped three potential mass shootings over the past couple of days, just two weeks after the country saw two devastating massacres that left 29 dead in 24 hours.
Cops arrested three men in separate incidents in Connecticut, Florida, and Ohio following tips from the public.
The shooters included a gunman who posted on social media about his interest in committing in a mass shooting, a man who wanted to break the world record for longest confirmed kill, and a white nationalist who targeted Jewish people.
Connecticut man who posted on Facebook about launching mass shooting:
On Thursday August 15 Connecticut police arrested 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol after he posted on Facebook saying he wanted to commit a mass shooting and was spotted trying to purchase high capacity magazines
On Thursday Connecticut police arrested 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol after he posted on Facebook saying he wanted to commit a mass shooting and was spotted trying to purchase high capacity magazines.
Police were flagged to him following a tip from a citizen saying he was trying to buy large capacity rifle magazines from out of state, accord to the Norwalk Police Department.
He was charged with four counts of illegal possession of large capacity magazines and is currently being held on $250,000 bond. He’s scheduled to appear in court on September 6.
Pictures on his social media show him wearing a ballistic helmet and playing shooting video games
When authorities searched his home, they discovered Wagshol was trying to build his own rifle and they owned a stunning arsenal of weapons including a handgun, a rifle, a rifle scope with a laser, multiple rounds of ammunition, body armor, a ballistic helmet and tactical gear. Some of those weapons were registered to his father, authorities said.
Pictures on his social media show him wearing a ballistic helmet and playing shooting video games.
Cops said he had shared posts expressing an interest in committing a mass shooting, but didn’t reveal the nature of the post.
Florida man who said he wanted to ‘break a world record for longest confirmed kill’:
On Friday in Florida police arrested Tristan Scott Wix, 25, of Daytona Beach after he sent his ex-girlfriend a slew of texts threatening to commit a mass shooting
On Friday in Florida police arrested Tristan Scott Wix, 25, of Daytona Beach after he sent his ex-girlfriend a slew of texts allegedly threatening to commit a mass shooting.
The girlfriend alerted the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and arrested him in a Winn-Dixie parking lot.
In the disturbing text messages Wix said he wanted to open fire on a large crowd of people allegedly writing, ‘a good 100 kills would be nice.’
He said he already had a location in mind and said he wanted to die and ‘have fun doing it’, according to authorities.
‘A school is a weak target.. id be more likely to open fire on a large crowd of people from over 3 miles away.. I’d wanna break a world record for longest confirmed kill ever,’ one chilling message said.
His texts were send alongside laughing and crying face emojis.
In the disturbing text messages Wix said he wanted to open fire on a large crowd of people allegedly writing, ‘a good 100 kills would be nice’
When authorities searched Wix’s home they found a .22-caliber hunting rifle and 400 rounds of ammo, despite the suspect initial claims that he didn’t own any firearms and that he was just fascinated with mass shootings.
‘When you look at this kid’s background, he is the profile of a shooter. He lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, he’s depressed, he’s got the ammunition, and he wants to become known for being the most prolific killer in American history,’ Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said to CNN.
On Sunday Wix was being held without bond on Sunday at the Volusia County Branch jail.
White nationalist who threatened to shoot up Jewish community center in Ohio:
James Reardon Jr., 20, was arrested after threatening to shoot up a Jewish community center in Ohio
When the FBI raided Reardon’s home, they found multiple semi-automatic weapons, dozens of rounds of ammunition
Ohio man James Patrick Reardon, 20, was arrested and booked into jail on Saturday for threatening to carry out a shooting at a Jewish community center.
Reardon threatened to shoot up the Jewish community center in Youngstown, located just 65 miles north of Pittsburg where a gunman killed 11 Jewish worshipers in a synagogue in October, in a video posted to Instagram.
The video was uploaded on the account @ira-seamus and belonged to Reardon. It showed a man firing a gun and tagged the Jewish Comunity Center of Youngstown with the caption ‘Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon’.
Seamus O’Rearedon is the Gaelic version of Reardon’s name.
The video was shown to an officer on an unrelated call and launched an investigation on July 11.
‘With everything going on we wanted to make sure we acted very quickly on this,’ New Middletown Police Chief Vincent D’Egidio said.
Reardon posted a video of a man firing a semi-automatic rifle where screams and sirens could be heard in the background, and tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown (pictured) in the post
During the raid on Reardon’s home the FBI discovered anti-Semitic and white nationalist material, as well as body armor
Reardon has been charged with telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing but it’s not clear whether the FBI will press federal charges
Police said Reardon’s social media feed, which has the description, ‘Just a local IRA man trying to live his life’, was filled with racial slurs
When cops raided Reardon’s home on Friday they found multiple semi-automatic weapons, dozens of rounds of ammunition, a gas mask and bulletproof armor, as well as anti-Semitic and white nationalist propaganda.
An investigation revealed he was present at the deadly ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 and was included in a National Georgraphic documentary on the rally.
A search of his social media found posts filled with racial slurs, derogatory statements about minorities and lots of images showing Reardon or others shooting guns.
‘This is a person that has declared himself as a white nationalist. With the hate crimes and everything else going on, we want to make sure we do our part to make sure this person was taken off the streets very quickly,’ D’Egidio said.
He was charged with telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing and is being held in the Mahoning County Jail on $250,000 bond.