Arizona man accused of threatening school, police station, and theater mass shooting: PD
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. - Police in Casa Grande say they have arrested a 19-year-old man for allegedly making terrorist threats.
According to a statement released on June 6, officials said Joshua Adam Bowen was arrested near his home on June 5. An investigation into Bowen began after FBI officials contacted Casa Grande Police regarding online comments made by Bowen.
"Bowen made various threats to harm people by mass shooting at a local high school, police station, and movie theater. He threatened family and friends and praised the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas," a portion of the statement read.
Court documents release additional details
On June 7, we obtained court documents that revealed additional details surrounding the case.
According to the documents, Bowen is accused of three counts of making a terrorist threat for allegedly threatening to shoot up a "Harkins movie theater, shoot a school, and shoot a police department."
"[Bowen] also threatened to shoot his ex-girlfriend (not fully identified yet)," read a portion of the court documents.
According to investigators, FBI's National Threat Operation Center received a tip from Texas that two usernames on the mobile version of the game Call of Duty were making threats.
"The first username [redacted] messaged. 'Tune in June 10th for the Casa Grande school shooting," read a portion of the statements. Investigators also say the second username threatened to kill at least 20 people.
FBI officials, according to court documents, reached out to Activision, which makes Call of Duty, to obtain more information on the individual who made the threats and comments. The company then provided the IP addresses and six months of chats from two users. Some of the messages read:
- "The Buffalo shooting was justified" (May 20, 2022)
- "The Texas shooting was justified in self defense" (May 28, 2022)
- "Ramos Salvador was a good man," (June 1, 2022, a reference to the shooting suspect in the Uvalde shooting, Salvador Ramos)
Other more graphic messages include threats to shoot up a police station, threats to end his ex's life, threats to kill women and children, and the user asking others of he should kill his mother.
Eventually, investigators were able to connect Bowen with the messages. Bowen was detained following a traffic stop on June 5. A search warrant was served at his place the same day.
"Although there were no weapons found on Bowen at the time of his arrest, detectives were able to identify information that leads them to believe he may have access to firearms," read a portion of the statement released by Casa Grande Police on June 6.
"During an interview with [Bowen], he immediately invoked his right to an attorney. [Bowen] repeated stated he was innocent]," read a portion of the court documents
Police officials said Bowen has been booked into the Pinal County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held on a $150,000 bond. Charges will be forwarded to the Pinal County Attorney's Office for review.
"There is no doubt in my mind this individual was intent on hurting people and, ultimately, would have found a way to do it," Casa Grande Chief of Police Mark McCrory said, in the statement. "Fortunately, we have great support at the local, state, and national level to identify these threats and in this instance these relationships functioned exactly as they should, and we were able to work together to stop a serious threat to our community."
Joshua Adam Bowen (Courtesy: Casa Grande Police Department)
Texas school shooting happened days after Buffalo supermarket mass shooting
The shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two adults dead, happened on May 24. The shooting happened just 10 days after a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York left 10 people dead.
Related: Buffalo supermarket shooting: What’s known about the victims
In the aftermath of the Texas school shooting, concerns have been raised over police response to the incident, with the state's governor, Greg Abbott, saying he was misled about officers' response to the shooting.
This story was reported on from Phoenix.
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