Post by mominatrix on Jul 27, 2012 13:24:24 GMT -5
Police: Crofton man planned mass shooting akin to Aurora Sources say threats concerned former workplace
By Andrea F. Siegel and Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun
12:51 p.m. EDT, July 27, 2012
Police say they thwarted a terror threat by taking into custody a 28-year-old man thought to be planning a mass shooting at his former workplace.
Police found a cache of weapons in his Crofton home, sources close to the situation said today.
Sources said that the man was fired from his job and made threats using words similar to terminology used at the shootings in Aurora, Colo.
An official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press Friday that Neil Prescott of Crofton, Md., earlier this week phoned in a threat to software and mailroom supplier Pitney Bowes that he was going to “shoot the place up.” Investigators say a search of Prescott's home turned up more than 20 guns, including assault rifles and handguns, and more than 400 rounds of ammunition.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is unfolding, said the suspect referred to himself as “a joker.” But there is no other known connection to a deadly shooting last week at the Colorado movie theater during the latest Batman movie.
Pitney Bowes spokeswoman Carol Wallace said in an emailed statement that Prescott was an employee of a subcontractor to the company and had not been on compnay property in more than four months. Download The Baltimore Sun's new iPhone app.
"At Pitney Bowes we have clear security protocol and when we had concerns about this individual, we contacted authorities," Wallace wrote. She declined to answer questions.
Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties police, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesscheduled a 1 p.m. press conference to discuss the case.
The man was being treated at Anne Arundel Medical Center.