Police believe a cook at a California airport hotel was planning a mass shooting after raiding his home and finding a weapons arsenal, including an assault rifle and dozens of rounds of ammunition.
Rodolfo Montoya, aged 37, was arrested on various charges including possession of an assault weapon and making a criminal threat.
His plot was revealed after a fellow worker at the Marriott hotel near Long Beach Airport told other staff that the cook had threatened to shoot staff and guests at the hotel.
It’s understood that he was angry with the hotel’s human resources department.
"Thank God that employee decided to bring that information forward," said police chief Robert G. Luna.
He had ‘clear plans, intent and the means to carry out an act of violence that may have resulted in a mass casualty incident’, Luna said.
Police also found tactical gear at Montoya’s home.
Police said Montoya had no prior criminal history preventing him from owning firearm, although the assault rifle and the volume of magazines found at his home is likely to be illegal under California state law.
"He had a plan of shooting everybody that he saw in the hotel," Luna added.
"How far away were we from this guy acting out, that’s part of the questioning that we’re going through right now."
