Man from North Carolina arrested at Florida hotel with a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammo, authorities say
Authorities say a man suspected of planning a mass shooting at a large New Orleans festival was arrested at a Florida hotel with a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
The event was not named, but the New Orleans jazz and heritage festival, commonly known as JazzFest, runs from Thursday through 3 May. The gathering celebrates Louisiana’s music, food and culture, and attracted about 460,000 people last year, organizers said.
The suspect, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was wanted “by the Department of Public Safety for terroristic threats”, the Okaloosa county sheriff’s office posted online on Thursday. It said federal authorities had identified the alleged threat, without naming the agency. The FBI office in New Orleans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Okaloosa sheriff’s office said the man was arrested without incident on Wednesday night at a hotel in Destin, in the Florida Panhandle. Deputies recovered a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammunition from the hotel room, the statement said.
