Heavily armed man twice accused of gun threats

“Just that it was odd and kind of weird. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain”.

Mr Hopper said Mateen was questioned in 2014 about his contacts with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, a USA citizen who also had lived in Florida and became a suicide bomber in Syria that year. Police issued no trespassing orders to the mother and to Howell.

“The explosives thing, that did surprise me quite a bit”, the teenager said. He also pleaded guilty on April 19 to misdemeanor intimidation, and prosecutors dropped the charge of pointing a firearm.

Under the probation, Howell was not supposed to leave IN or have any weapons. Last year, he was charged with two felonies, intimidation and pointing a firearm at another person. Howell met with a probation officer on May 22 who rated him a low-level offender, Hayden said. Howell is accused of driving 103 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone in February.

When the officer spoke with Howell, he denied the allegations.

“We are hearing absolutely devastating news reports from Orlando this morning”, she said. “We all quit talking to him for a while after that”.

Howell was arrested about 5 a.m. Sunday in the 1700 block of 11th Street, near Olympic Boulevard, by Santa Monica police officers, the District Attorney’s office said. Department officials later walked those comments back, saying the man had only told them he was headed that way.

The conflicting news set off a wave of increased tension because Howell’s arrest came hours after a deadly massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. where 50 people died (including the gunman) in the worst mass shooting in US history.

He said Howell is bi-sexual and had attended gay clubs and pride festivals in the Louisville-area. It wasn’t long though, before the teen discovered Howell’s violent tendencies. In fact, they said, Howell is gay.

His ex-boyfriend said Howell needs help. “I can’t believe that I wasted a month and a half of my life with someone like that”, the teen said.

Hambrick said his ex-boyfriend kept a collection of guns.

In the incident, the teenager claimed Howell pointed a rifle at him, but witnesses living with Howell said Howell only carried the gun on his shoulder while asking the teenager to leave.

“As far as I know he had no connections there with any family or friends”, Hambrick said. “He didn’t hunt. He just had them”.

An anti-Clinton, pro-Bernie Sanders photo was posted in February.The page says Howell worked as an auditor for a company that makes air filters.A former roommate, Grace Logsdon, told The Associated Press that Howell possessed at least five guns and liked to frequent a shooting range. No charges arose from that allegation.

“The boy was young and dumb and had a mouth on him”, said Jeremy Hebert, a former IN neighbor once threatened by Howell at gunpoint, according to court documents.

Police reported Sunday that he was found with three assault rifles and materials to create a pipe bomb. Between each rack, he raised his gun and pointed it at Hebert. Kristen Boggs Jaeger, 32, a resident of West Hollywood, came out to LA Pride with a sign that read “You are attractive #Pray for ORLANDO”.

He was scheduled for an initial court appearance later on Tuesday and prosecutors said they would ask that he be held on $2 million bail. It was unclear if Howell had an attorney.

Leone called Howell a “significant danger to the community”.

“His parents have given zero indication that they are anything but squared away”, Rowe said.