Indiana man arrested in California with guns, chemicals

Police arrested a man with assault weapons and possible explosives on his way to the Los Angeles Pride festival in West Hollywood, first reported with a tweet from ProPublica’s Robert Faturechi.

Call 6 Investigates has learned that the IN man arrested IN connection with bringing explosive materials and guns to the LA Pride festival on Sunday had at least one previous boyfriend.

Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call about a suspected prowler who was knocking on a resident’s door and window about 5 a.m.in the 1700 block of 11th Street, Santa Monica police said.

Authorities are searching for a friend of the man to question, he said. However, they still don’t know why he had several weapons in his auto, including three assault-style rifles, ammunition and a “five-gallon bucket of chemicals” that police say could have been used to make a bomb.

Cary Goodman, a former co-worker of Howell’s, said that he was surprised when he found out Howell may have been targeting a Pride event because he had “mentioned he had a male partner”, reports the Daily News, but that Goodman had never met or seen a photo of the alleged partner.

Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks also said there was no known connection between Howell’s arrest and the shooting rampage early Sunday morning at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 50 people were killed and more than 50 others were wounded. When officers arrived, they saw an assault rifle sitting in Howell’s passenger seat, Santa Monica police Lt. Saul Rodriguez said.

Howell’s true intentions have become even more clouded after a friend, Joseph Greeson, 18, told the LA Times that he didn’t harbour any ill will toward gays or lesbians, and was in-fact bisexual.

The Indianapolis Star reports Howell was charged with a felony charge of pointing a firearm and a misdemeanor charge of intimidation. He was sentenced to a year in state prison and given probation and had to forfeit all weapons during his term of probation.

The pride parade was scheduled to start about 10:45 a.m.

The Abbey staff, Rosman said, did not consider closing and had large crowds throughout the day.

Mayor Eric Garcetti earlier said it is believed the man is completely unrelated to the Orlando massacre.

“We are here as Angelenos, as the LGBT community and allies”, he said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – An Indiana man arrested over the weekend in California with three assault rifles and ammunition in his vehicle was forbidden from leaving his home state as part of probation stemming from a case in which he pointed a gun at neighbors, according to authorities and court records.

Law enforcement personnel confirmed an arrest was made in Santa Monica, but had no details about the incident.

The Robertson Boulevard bar, he said, already searches patrons’ bags and purses and asks them to open up bulky coats to see if they have anything unsafe underneath, Rosman said.

Dalton reported from Los Angeles. “And we will not shrink away, we will not be stuck in our homes, we will not go back into our closets”.

“She said, ‘Are you sure that’s the guy?’ And I said, ‘I’m positive that’s the guy who’s been banging for the last ten minutes on my door'”. “We are here to march, to celebrate and to mourn”.

Signs reading “We Love Orlando” and ’50 lost.