Police have foiled what they believed could have been another Aurora-scale massacre after a man who called himself 'a joker' and had an arsenal of semi-automatic rifles threatened to shoot up the business from which he was being fired.
Neil Prescott, of Crofton, Maryland, was wearing a T-shirt that read 'Guns don't kill people. I do,' when first confronted by officers on Thursday, police revealed today.
The man, identified in a search warrant, told a supervisor at software and mailroom supplier Pitney Bowes that, '
I'm a joker and I'm gonna load my guns and blow everybody up,' and that he wanted to see the supervisor's '
brain splatter on the floor.'
The threats were made multiple times in separate phone calls this week, and investigators who searched the 28-year-old's apartment this morning found several thousand rounds of ammunition and about two dozen semi-automatic rifles and pistols.
The arsenal of weapons included one assault rifle, two shotguns, nine handguns and three rifles, according to the search warrant.
Prescott is receiving a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital and charges are still pending.
Though there is no other indication of a link to the Colorado shooting, police believe the joker comments made by Prescott were a 'clear reference' to the killings, according to the warrant.