Court records for Gillum’s case are marked “confidential,” and a court clerk said that indicates it’s a mental health case.
The family of a North Carolina man called a Florida sheriff’s office to check on him Wednesday morning, hours before deputies there learned the man was wanted in Louisiana for allegedly threatening a mass shooting in New Orleans, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Christopher Gillum, 44, was arrested at a hotel in Destin, Fla., at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, the Okaloosa sheriff’s office wrote in a social media post. He was arrested and held in the county jail based on a warrant issued by Louisiana State Police to bring Gillum to Orleans Parish.
He’s being held in Okaloosa County jail awaiting extradition to New Orleans.
A spokesperson for the Okaloosa sheriff’s office told WWL Louisiana that Gillum’s family had called them for a welfare check at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, and deputies visited him but determined they had no reason to arrest him. That was before Okaloosa County authorities were made aware of an investigation into terroristic threats, spokeswoman Michele Nicholson said.
She said the sheriff’s office later learned of an investigation into Gillum making threats to shoot people at a festival in New Orleans and deputies returned to the hotel to do surveillance.
“Authorities obtained information Gillum planned to travel to a festival in New Orleans to conduct a mass shooting,” the sheriff’s office posted in its statement on Facebook.
When they received the arrest warrant from Louisiana State Police, Okaloosa deputies entered the hotel room and arrested Gillum, Nicholson said.
Our partners at The Times-Picayune report that a bulletin was sent by police in Burlington, NC, stating that Gillum’s family had indicated Gillum had a Glock pistol with him and had said he wanted to harm Black people.
Attempts Thursday by WWL Louisiana to contact members of Gillum’s family were not immediately successful.
The Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office statement said deputies found a pistol and 200 rounds of ammunition in Gillum’s hotel room when they arrested him.
Authorities haven’t said which festival he was supposedly targeting. Even though Jazz Fest in New Orleans started Thursday, the FBI told WWL Louisiana there’s no sign he ever specifically threatened it. “At this time there are no known direct threats to any festivals in Louisiana,” the agency said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if or when he had a first hearing in court. Court records for Gillum’s case are marked “confidential,” and a court clerk said that indicates it’s a mental health case.