Heavily armed Ind. man arrested on way to L.A. Pride parade
An Indiana man armed with assault rifles and explosive chemicals was arrested on his way to a gay pride event in Los Angeles, police said Sunday.
James Wesley Howell, 20, was arrested when Santa Monica police discovered three assault rifles, high capacity magazines and ammunition in his car, according to a news release from the Santa Monica Police Department. Investigators also recovered a five-gallon bucket "with chemicals capable of forming an improvised explosive device," police said.
According to initial reports from Santa Monica police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks, Howell told officers he wanted to harm the gay pride event in West Hollywood that was taking place about 7 miles away later Sunday.
But Seabrooks later called those comments an "inaccuracy," saying on Twitter that Howell only said that he was going to the event, not that he wanted to harm anyone.
Authorities encountered Howell while responding to a call about "suspicious circumstances" in Santa Monica shortly before 5 a.m. Police said Howell was reportedly knocking on a resident's door and window. Howell's vehicle was registered in Indiana.
Seabrooks also tweeted that there are no known connections between Howell's arrest and the mass shooting this weekend that killed 50 people at a gay nightclub in Florida.
According to court records, Howell most recently lived in Jeffersonville, which is part of the Louisville metro area. He was arrested in Clark County in October 2015 on a felony charge of pointing a firearm and a misdemeanor charge of intimidation.
Court records show Howell pleaded guilty in April to the intimidation charge. The felony firearm charge was dismissed. Howell was sentenced to serve a year of probation. According to court records, he was to "forfeit all weapons" for the entirety of his probation period.
Three days after his plea in that case, Howell was indicted in Jefferson Circuit Court in Kentucky on charges of fleeing or evading police and reckless driving, according to court documents. Howell is scheduled for a hearing in that case next month. Further details about that case were not immediately available.
A man who attended middle school and high school with Howell told IndyStar that he was the quiet one in their class. He said Howell didn't talk much, but would get into arguments and fights with people over differences of opinions.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told IndyStar that he couldn't really think of a situation in which Howell spoke about his opinions regarding the LGBT community.
Howell's arrest is still under investigation by the Santa Monica Police Department, which says it is collaborating with the FBI.
Matthew Glowicki of the Louisville Courier-Journal and The Associated Press contributed to this story.