U.S. Attorney: Grandmother finds out what grandson has planned, thwarts mass shooting – By Natalie Dreier (Cox Media Group) / Aug 5 2019
LUBBOCK, TEXAS — An alert grandmother who knew what her grandson had been planning may have stopped a mass shooting before it could happen.
Special agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested William Patrick Williams, a 19-year-old man from Lubbock, Texas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas announced Friday, CNN reported.
The man, according to federal officials, had bought ammunition and an AK-47 and had rented a hotel room to plan a mass shooting, CNN reported.
He had wanted to “shoot up” a hotel and “then commit suicide by cop,” according to the Attorney’s Office. Williams told his grandmother about his plans, and she urged him to go to a hospital and get help.
U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox credits Williams’ grandmother for probably saving the lives of strangers.
“This was a tragedy averted,” Cox said in a statement. “I want to praise the defendant’s grandmother, who saved lives by interrupting this plot, as well as the Lubbock police officers and federal agents who investigated his unlawful acquisition of a deadly weapon.”
When agents searched Williams’ hotel room, they found the AK-47 and 17 loaded magazines and multiple knives laid out on the bed, Cox said in the release.
He also had black tactical gloves with fingers cut off, a black trench coat, black tactical pants and a t-shirt that read “Let ‘Em Come,” according to the authorities.
Williams purchased the gun on July 11, but the ATF said it received the form on July 21 and Williams had lied about his address on the form. He had been kicked out of the home of relatives and had been staying with a roommate at an address that was different from what his license showed, federal authorities said.
Williams was charged with making false statements to a firearms dealer, CNN reported.
