Thousands of individuals gathered for a New Year’s Eve celebration in Seattle this week to anticipate the annual fireworks present at one of many metropolis’s most iconic landmarks, when a man stopped on a garden and opened his coat to disclose a loaded shotgun, police mentioned, alarming witnesses and an officer close by.
The man flashed his weapon in the densely populated and well-lit space overlooking the Space Needle commentary tower, sporting all black clothes with a crimson hat branded with the phrase “WAR.” Moments later, officers detained him and found he was additionally carrying a pistol and a number of rounds of ammunition, Seattle police said.
Marcos Campos Lezama, 21, was taken into custody simply after 7 p.m. Wednesday with out incident and charged with illegal use of weapons to intimidate, a misdemeanor offense, court docket paperwork present. His bail was set at $10,000 and he’s being held on the King County Correctional Facility, the paperwork say.
Lezama made a court docket look Friday and pleaded not responsible, court docket paperwork present. NCS has not been capable of decide if he has an legal professional.
Lezama, who had a sound hid carry allow, held a shotgun loaded with a mixture of projectiles sometimes seen by individuals who are planning to fireplace a shotgun at various ranges “and/or when anticipating using shotguns against people with armor or using cover,” in response to the police report.
What additionally involved police was foam listening to safety in his pockets with the extra projectiles, which “is extremely uncommon with suspects possessing firearms” and led police to imagine he deliberate to make use of the firearms he delivered to the occasion, the police report mentioned.
In the report, police referenced threats throughout the nation to New Year’s Eve celebrations, citing the New Orleans terror attack final yr and two weeks in the past, a separate incident in Los Angeles which led to the arrest of 4 individuals for allegedly working collectively on a bomb plot set to happen across the metropolis on New Year’s Eve.
After Lezama’s arrest, detectives in the town’s legal intelligence unit responded to help patrol officers, and situated his automobile close by, police mentioned. The company’s arson bomb squad “swept the car for potential weapons or explosives, finding none,” the company added.
NCS has contacted the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, which filed the charges towards Lezama, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.