Rodolfo Montoya, 37, was arrested by police officers on Aug. 20 after a concerned hotel employee alerted officers on Monday to “a verbal threat of violence,” the Long Beach Police Department said.
A search of Montoya’s Huntington Beach residence uncovered multiple firearms, high capacity-magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and tactical gear.
The high-capacity magazines and an assault rifle that was found are both illegal to possess in California, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
An investigation indicated that Montoya made the threat because he was upset “over human resource issues,” the department said.
Police officials said at a press conference that there were indications Montaya had planned to carry out a mass shooting.
He said “many lives were saved” because of the worker who reported the threat.
The suspect worked at the Marriott close to Long Beach Airport.
“I am just here to thank Long Beach Police Chief Luna and his team,” said Imran Ahmed, the hotel’s general manager, the Press-Telegram reported. “The way they got ahead of this story, that is the reason we are here today.”
Ahmed said Montoya “wasn’t a model employee but he never called out” and even won an award for not missing a shift in 2018, the Post reported.
According to jail records, Montaya was being held on $500,000 bail. He was booked on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing assault weapons, possession of an assault weapon, and making criminal threats, police said.
“He seemed relatively normal,” Kaufman, who at one point helped Montoya fix his car, added, “but nothing surprises me anymore.”
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