Ex-Cop Arrested For Planning Mass Shooting Of Black People
Ex-Cop Arrested For Allegedly Planning Mass Shooting Of Black People
A serious tragedy was averted on Wednesday after authorities arrested a former police officer who allegedly planned to commit a mass shooting at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in an effort to kill Black people.
AP reports that Christopher Gillum of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was arrested on Wednesday evening without incident at a hotel in Destin, Florida. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department said they were tipped off by federal authorities that Gillum intended to “travel to a festival in New Orleans to conduct a mass shooting and then commit suicide by cop.” Deputies recovered a handgun and over 200 rounds of ammo from Gillum’s hotel room.
Lt. Clint Lyons of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina told AP that Gillum’s family reported him as missing on Tuesday and that he had a history of self-harm. A police bulletin in Burlington, North Carolina, further revealed that Gillum’s family told law enforcement that he “expressed recent threats to harm Black people.”
Lyons added that his agency planned to involuntarily commit Gillum to psychiatric treatment after receiving the tip, but was unable to complete the paperwork before he crossed state lines. He told AP that he couldn’t detain Gillum on criminal grounds despite his comments about Black people “because there was no victim.”
Gillum has a long track record of working for law enforcement. According to CNN, Gillum was a police officer in Chapel Hill from 2004 until he resigned in 2019. He briefly returned to the police department as a non-sworn employee in 2024 before leaving for another job at the end of that year, Alex Carrasquillo, communications manager for the Town of Chapel Hill, told CNN.
Alicia Stemper, communications manager for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, told CNN that Gillum worked as a detention officer from October 2023 through July 2024. Stemper added that he most recently worked as a sheriff for the department from January of last year until he resigned in September. There was no explanation given for his multiple resignations or frequent job-hopping between departments.
While authorities declined to name what festival Gillum allegedly intended to attack, the New Orleans Jazz Fest is currently running until May 3. Organizers said the event attracted 460,000 attendees last year. Matthew Goldman, press and advertising director for Jazz Fest, released a statement saying the festival’s organizers were “grateful to all law enforcement partners for their dedication and exceptional service in protecting our community.”
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno released a statement praising the “tremendous coordination” by law enforcement agencies. “This level of coordination extended to law enforcement agencies in multiple states from North Carolina to Florida. This is where urgent collaboration and cooperation pays off,” Moreno’s statement read.
The Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Gillum is currently being held in the Okaloosa County jail and is awaiting extradition to Louisiana.
The Blue Lives Matter crew loves to talk about how not all cops are racist, but between Gillium allegedly planning a mass shooting with the expressed purpose of killing Black people, and a Houston cop going on a racist rant about how she hates Black people, this week has further revealed that law enforcement sure seems to attract racists.
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Ex-Cop Arrested For Allegedly Planning Mass Shooting Of Black People was originally published on newsone.com
