A 37-year-old California man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of planning to commit a “Las Vegas style” mass shooting, police said.
The Chico Police Department said that Dallas Marsh was taken into custody after detectives obtained evidence that he was making criminal threats to kill specific individuals, law enforcement officers, and others in a mass shooting. Police said that Marsh had a “specified deadline” to carry out this alleged shooting plot.
A SWAT team located and arrested Marsh near the Super 8 Motel in Chico on Sunday morning, according to a police statement. Following his arrest, Marsh allegedly made threats to kill additional officers and their families and battered an officer with a table during an interview while in custody.
Marsh has been charged with making criminal threats of death/great bodily injury, as well as battery on a peace officer and threats of violence against peace officers.
Authorities did not say when Marsh intended to carry out this alleged mass shooting, but Oct. 1 will be the fifth anniversary of the Las Vegas massacre. The Las Vegas shooting was the deadliest mass shooting event committed by an individual in United States history.
An FBI investigation failed to determine the motivations of the Las Vegas shooter, who set up a sniper nest on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, from which he opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest musical festival on the Vegas Strip. The gunman shot and killed 60 people and injured more than 500 others before dying by self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police did not identify a motive behind Marsh’s alleged shooting plot. The New York Post reports that photos on a Facebook account appearing to belong to Marsh indicate he is an Army veteran. In his “intro” section, Marsh wrote that he previously served as a U.S. Army Delta Force commander.
Some people have begun leaving nasty comments on the account calling Marsh a “terrorist” and wishing him dead. One user who said he “served in Iraq with Marsh” called him a “really good dude” and the “kinda person you could count on” in rebuke of those leaving negative comments.
“This is not who Marsh is none of you know what’s going on and quick to name call and judge at the end of the day hopefully he gets the help he needs to be the real person he is. Combat related PTSD and the failed mental health care this country provided veterans is a big problem,” the user wrote.
“Until you all go through war then battle demons from those events by yourselves maybe take a look at what drove a person to fall this hard,” he wrote.
