Law enforcement officials in Boston have just prevented a potential disaster at the Pokemon World Championships, a video game event taking place in the city. According to BBC, the police found a shotgun, a rifle, "several hundred rounds" of ammunition and a hunting knife in a car belonging to the two suspects.
On Friday, August 21, 2015, detectives received and executed a search warrant for the suspect vehicle. Upon execution of the warrant, detectives recovered one 12-gauge Remington shotgun, one DPMS Model AR-15 rifle, several hundred rounds of ammunition, and a hunting knife. An arrest warrant was issued for the two suspects, says the official statement released by the Boston Police Department.
The culprits, 18-year-old Kevin Norton and 27-year-old James Stumbo, were scheduled to compete in the event. According to Boston Police, the pair made 'threats of violence over social media' prior to the tournament, which tipped them off. The two have been charged with possession of firearms and unlawful possession of ammunition.
The Daily Beast says that the two referenced the Columbine school shooting and launched threats at specific tournament participants over a private Facebook group.
Stumbo allegedly posted "MY AR-15 says you lose" on the group.
He also wasn't shy about showing off his arsenal; posting pictures of his weapons and captioning the shot, "Kevin Norton and I are ready for Worlds Boston here we come!!!"
In the Police Department's official statement, Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald said:
"The relationship between police and private sector security is important in both our community policing philosophy, as well as our counter-terrorism strategy. This incident is a good example of private security reaching out to their local Boston police district and relaying information to detectives and BRIC analysts in order to identify the very real threat. The BPD detectives and collaborating agencies did a great job in the stop and prevention of a potential tragedy."
