A 38-year-old man was found at the Equus Hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii, with a large cache of loaded weapons. The man staying in the room, who has not been identified, was not arrested.
The FBI alerted the Honolulu police to the subject’s presence at the hotel and the man claimed to be hunting terrorists. According to Hawaii News Now, the FBI was concerned about his social media postings.
“The FBI notified Honolulu police Thursday about a guest in room 803 at the Equus Hotel, saying he was claiming to be a federal agent in disturbing posts on social media. The 38-year-old claimed his mission was to hunt terrorist cells,” the report said.
The man’s arsenal included:
- An AR-15, and 15 high-capacity magazines — all loaded.
- A shotgun and two handguns.
- A total of more than 800 rounds of ammunition, plus 18 military styles knives and body armor.
According to local reports, Honolulu police found psychiatric medicine in the possession of the man in question, which allowed them to hold him for a psychiatric evaluation. If he passes, he will be released and given his weapons back as they were legally registered to him.
Mike Dailey, a manager at the hotel, said, “There was no danger. The gentlemen was here. He was a guest staying here. He left and then there was an FBI and police investigation.”
The FBI is having trouble identifying killers recently and has ignored major warning signs that ended in tragedy. According to The Daily Caller, the FBI knew about many mass killers before they struck.
Dylann Roof, who in 2015 shot nine people at a black church in Charleston, was allowed to purchase his weapon in part because of errors by FBI agents during the background check process, the agency said.
Pulse shooter Omar Mateen, who pledged allegiance to ISIS before killing 49 people at the Orlando nightclub, similarly seemed to have fallen through the cracks. The FBI investigated Mateen twice before the slaughter but ruled him not a threat both times.
The FBI knew that Fort Hood shooter Army Maj. Nidal Hasan had been in contact with al Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, but declined to investigate him. A congressional probe found that the FBI had failed to alert the Army about Hasan, and that the shooting could and should have been prevented. Hasan killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others in the 2009 shooting.
The FBI similarly missed opportunities to stop Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the brothers behind the 2013 Boston Bombing, a government review found.
Is this another case of the FBI missing major red flags?
PJM has reached out to the FBI and will update with more information as we get it. Calls to Honolulu police for more information have been unsuccessful.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member