Police have charged Blaec Lammers, 20, of Bolivar, Mo., with plotting a mass shooting at a weekend screening of the new 'Twilight' movie or at a local Walmart.(Photo: Bolivar, Mo., Police Department)
USA TODAY
5:26PM EST November 16. 2012 - A 20-year-old Missouri man was charged Friday with planning a mass shooting this weekend at either a screening of the latest Twilight movie or a local Walmart.
Blaec
Lammers, of Bolivar, is accused of buying assault rifles and more than
400 rounds of ammunition in a plot mimicking the July mass shooting that
killed 12 and wounded 57 at an Aurora, Colo., theater showing the
premiere of the latest Batman movie, the Springfield News-Leader reports.
Lammers
was charged with first-degree assault, making a terroristic threat and
armed criminal action. He is being held on $500,000 bail.
His
mother contacted police Thursday, saying Lammers had bought assault
weapons and ammunition, and was concerned he "may have intentions of
shooting people at the movie," The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2, according to court documents. He told police he had bought a ticket for a Sunday show.
He then stated he might instead target the Walmart Supercenter in Bolivar
"because if he ran out of ammunition he would be able to break the
glass where the ammunition is stored and get more, writes the News-Leader, published by Gannett, USA TODAY's parent.
Police Detective Dusty Ross, who interviewed Lammers, told the Bolivar Herald-Free Press, that Lammers said he planned to surrender after the shooting at the B&B Bolivar Cinema 5. The theater manager would not comment. Walmart has not released any statement.
According
to the police affidavit, signed by Ross, Lammers said he had bought two
assault rifles for hunting. When asked about "recent shootings in the
news," he "stated that he had a lot in common with the people. .. [He]
stated he was quiet, kind of a loner, had recently purchased firearms
and didn't tell anybody about it, and had homicidal thoughts," according
to a probable-cause statement.
Lammers said he bought the guns
Monday and Tuesday -- police did not say where -- and went to nearby
Aldrich on Tuesday to practice shooting. According to the police
affidavit, he said he had never fired a gun before and "wanted to make
sure he knew how they functioned." He also said he was currently not
taking his medication, which was not specified.
Ross said he does not believe anyone else was involved in the alleged plot.
"I think it would have been something he would have done solely on his own," Ross told the Herald-Free Press.
"You'll come across people who will make threats toward people and
events but they don't actually take the substantial steps that he took
in planning it out."
The affidavit also stated that in 2009,
Lammers "claimed he wanted to fatally stab a Walmart employee and
followed the employee around the store before he was contacted by
officers." KCTV5 says he was "not convicted in state court" but does not say whether he was charged.
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