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The Los Angeles Police Department stopped a potential Las Vegas-style mass shooting Wednesday night in Hollywood as they arrested a man with a cache of weapons in his 18th floor apartment. Some of the guns were pointed down at a popular park, and the 25-year-old suspect was reportedly acting strange and making threats. (Note: some outlets are reporting that he’s 24.)
The possible attack was thwarted by security guards and neighbors at the high-rise who reported to the LAPD that a resident was possibly suffering from a mental health crisis. The man, now identified as Braxton Kyle Johnson, who one neighbor said had talked about his military background and believed the CIA was after him, was placed under arrest after police entered the apartment with a search warrant and found a sniper rifle, two high-powered rifles, a shotgun, three pistols, extensive body armor and thousands of rounds of ammo.
The LA Times reports that “one rifle with a scope was mounted on a small tripod, similar to the ones used by hunters — or military snipers.”
All the guns were unregistered.
#BREAKING #Hollywood: 7 weapons, 2 vests, over a 1K rounds of ammunition seized from 18th floor apartment. @LAPDHollywood tells @NBCLA, officers prevented a possible “mass shooting event…similar to #LasVegas.” 24-year-old being questioned; arrested for criminal threats. pic.twitter.com/GdFQUhmq0b
— Robert Kovacik (@RobertNBCLA) February 2, 2023
Police were able to obtain the search warrant because of Johnson’s menacing threats:
One resident told officers that the man had made comments about owning numerous weapons and noting that his 18th-floor apartment provided a prime perch for “sniping,” according to the LAPD.
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Johnson had recently moved into the Lumina Hollywood, a luxury apartment complex in the 1500 block of Gordon Street near Sunset Boulevard, from out of town, according to police. LAPD Lt. Leonid Tsap described the apartment’s setup:
The suspect was located on the 18th floor of an apartment building with large windows with a view, with a non-obstructed view of a public park, downstairs, and some of the rifles were pointed outside of the windows.
Tsap also thanked the security guards and the public for their help:
They notified us and worked together with the police to bring this to a safe conclusion. It’s a great police work and a great teamwork by community members and our police officers to take the suspect off the streets and possibly prevent something of a heinous crime like a mass shooting.
It’s now up to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to determine if charges will be formally filed. Johnson’s bail has been set at $500,000. It’s not his first brush with the law—early reports indicate that he has an unspecified criminal history in at least one other state.
Good job, LAPD.
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