Man arrested en route to LA Pride with assault rifles, explosives in his car
A man was arrested today en route to Los Angeles Pride, with assault rifles and explosives in his car.
The man, who has not yet been identified, was arrested on Saturday night in Santa Monica.
According to authorities, the arrest is “unrelated” to the Orlando gay club shooting on Sunday morning, which left 50 dead and at least 52 injured.
The mayor of Los Angeles has said the march will go ahead, and the same as Washington DC, will hold a minute’s silence in solidarity with Orlando.
The Santa Monica police were tipped off to the man when someone reported a “prowler”. He told police that he was waiting for a friend, according to the LA Times.
Speaking on Sunday morning, the mayor of West Hollywood Lauren Meister said the Pride would go ahead but would be on high alert.
LA mayor Eric Garcetti said citizens won’t “not shrink back into the closet”. He added: “This is a society we love broadly and openly.”
With more than a hundred now confirmed dead or injured, the shooting in Pulse club in Orlando has become the deadliest in American history – the second worst killing would be the Virginia Tech shooting of 2007, which left 32 people dead and 17 injured.
After that is the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook which left 20 children and six adults dead.
Omar Mateen was named as the shooter in the incident which killed at least 50.
The US citizen’s parents are from Afghanistan, and FBI agent Ron Hopper spoke to reporters to say that he may have leanings towards Islamic extremism.
But his father said the incident was not religiously motivated.
The shooter, a resident of Port St Lucie, Florida, was killed after a “gun battle” with police officers in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Now Mateen’s father has apologised for the incident, saying he did not think his son was religiously motivated.
He also said that his son, 29, got angry a few months ago after he saw two men kiss in Orlando.
The shooter, a resident of Port St Lucie, Florida, was killed after a “gun battle” with police officers in the early hours of Sunday morning.
His identity was revealed by CBS News, the Washington Post, and NBC News. The BBC suggests that although he was not on a terrorist watch-list, he may have been being investigated for a previous crime.
