Hollywood high-rise arrest: Police find no evidence of planned mass shooting
Los Angeles police on Tuesday arrested a man on suspicion of making a range of criminal threats, and during the course of their investigation recovered a large amount of "high-powered" firearms, including one pointed out of a window at a public park.
Officers responded to the scene of a possible mental illness call regarding a male individual living on the 18th floor of the Lumina Hollywood apartments at 1522 Gordon Street near Sunset Boulevard Tuesday morning.
That man, identified as 25-year-old Los Angeles resident Braxton Johnson, was arrested after officers "determined the elements of Criminal Threats had been met," police said.
The suspect was allegedly threatening security staff members at the apartment and other people outside of the building. Police say that while he wasn't armed at the time of making the threats, the verbiage did involve weapons.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for the suspect's residence, where they located "several high-powered rifles, shotguns, handguns and a large cache of various munitions."
Officers said that Johnson had a gun set up on a stand, pointed at nearby Gordon Street Park below the apartment.
New video shared Thursday by a Lumina Hollywood apartments resident shows police at a doorway believed to be the suspect's on Tuesday when Johnson was arrested.
In all, officers seized two assault rifles, a sniper rifle, one shotgun, three pistols and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Johnson also had several high-capacity magazines, scopes and body armor, according to police. None of the weapons are registered to the suspect, police said. Two of the weapons were reported to be illegal in the state of California.
On Thursday, Johnson pleaded not guilty after he was charged with two counts of possession of an assault weapon, one count of criminal threats and one count of solicitation of murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Johnson was initially held on $500,000 bail before the District Attorney asked for his bail amount to be increased to $1,050,000, which was granted by the judge.
He is scheduled back in court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 16.
"At this point of the investigation, there are no indications that any persons were threatened with a firearm nor have we identified any intent by Johnson to plan a mass shooting incident," LAPD said Thursday evening.
They did however confirm that this week's arrest was not the first time they had contacted this suspect, but did not provide further details.
The suspect reportedly lived alone and had recently moved from the East Coast.
During a press conference Wednesday evening, LAPD officers said that the arrest "possibly prevent something of a heinous crime, like a mass shooting."
Police noted that the suspect's violent criminal history can be traced to at least one other state, where an additional investigation was also said to be ongoing. While it was not disclosed exactly what state Johnson is from, officers said it was located on the East Coast. They noted that he had recently moved into the high-rise apartment, but did not have an exact date for when he moved to the area.
"We're grateful to all that actually did call the police," an LAPD Lieutenant Leonid Tsap. "That's exactly what we need from the rest of the public. When they see something they need to say something and then, obviously, we as a department, we as an organization can work together with the public to protect our city."
A number of tenants in the high-rise apartment have reported having uncomfortable run-ins with Johnson, all of whom reported him making bizarre and threatening comments.
A resident of the same building, who did not want to be identified, said the suspect made threatening comments to him earlier in the week, including references to a song about a mass shooting.
"He kept talking about mass shootings, and then at one point he asked me, 'I wonder how many people I can snipe through my floor,' and he lives on the 18th floor, so in my head, I'm like 'Oh my God, is he like planning on shooting us, or planning on shooting people at the park?'" said the man. "And then he kind of like took two steps back and made a comment like, 'If I was the police, I would start my investigation right here.'"
A second resident, who also wished to remain anonymous, said that they were at a party with the suspect on Friday night, noting his bizarre behavior, which included gifting a female resident in the building a knife as a present.
"He was having really weird conversations with people and a lot of people started to feel uncomfortable," the resident said. "Then, he came up to me and showed me his gun, he said, 'Hey, listen I'm a security guard. It's okay.' He was kind of showing off."
Another tenant said that he ran into Johnson at the park earlier this week.
"He made a little comment about, 'nice to meet your dogs. I hope I don't end up sniping them,' and that really triggered my anxiety," the tenant said.
Management at the apartment building sent an email to residents advising them to stay in their apartments. Another resident said she called numerous neighbors because the suspect was roaming the halls. She also said she started hearing about the man making threats in early January.
Despite the accounts from neighbors, LAPD said there is no evidence Johnson was planning a mass shooting.
The case has been submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
