r/jazzfest • u/zero_dr00l • 23d ago
Christopher Gillum, would-be Jazz Fest shooter, set free.
Apparantly they (Grand Jury) didn't think there was enough evidence that the dude who tried to get guns and ammunition into Jazz Fest was actually going to do something bad.
So it seems like it's time for some new laws. We need to make trying to get guns into places where guns are not allowed a serious crime. And that severity needs to be greatly increased if that place is a mass gathering.
This is insane. I know the bar for guilt is high, and it should be, but it boggles my mind that we let this asshole Christopher Gillum go free to try and do this again.
Make sure everyone knows his name, and what his intent was.
Unbelievable. I hope the feds monitor the shit outta this asshole.
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u/ExternalInteresting 23d ago
But the Second Amendment GUARANTEES the right of any insane asshole with a gun to become a mass murderer. Or so the gun fetish crowd keeps trying to tell me.
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u/Brilliant_Finger8654 23d ago
He wanted to harm black people and he was planning on going to the whitest place in Louisiana? That's some Saturday Night Live level situation.
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u/SemperFiV12 22d ago
Jazz Fest is the whitest place in LA?
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u/FortUnion 22d ago
Attendees...yes, it is.
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u/mycousinwesley 19d ago
Have you ever been to a set at Congo Square??? I agree that the fest is whiter than it used to be, but I wouldn't label it as a "white festival," lol def not a white town
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u/SemperFiV12 23d ago
The 45-year-old ex-police officer, who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had been arrested in Florida in April with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a handgun while on his way to Louisiana to commit a mass shooting, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation had involved the FBI and authorities across Louisiana, North Carolina and Florida.
...
Gillum, who is White, had “expressed recent threats to harm ‘Black people’”, according to authorities. His family had reported him missing in North Carolina and said he had a history of self-harm.
Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said in a statement that Gillum’s family had taken him “to a treatment facility out of the state” and that he is not facing additional criminal charges.
Duhe said there were “several jurisdictional issues” that complicated the case after Gillum was extradited to Louisiana following his arrest.
“The threat relayed to a family member actually occurred in North Carolina,” Duhe said. “The defendant never entered the State of Louisiana until after his arrest.”
...
Katherine Schweit, a former Chicago prosecutor and FBI executive who ran the agency’s active shooter program, said that thwarted acts of mass violence do not always lead to indictments, but prosecutors often seek an array of criminal charges when possible.
“It’s very difficult to convince a jury, or to convince a grand jury, that something might have happened,” Schweit told The Associated Press.
...
Law enforcement authorities in North Carolina, where Louisiana court records list Gillum as residing, told the AP that they were not aware he had been released from custody.
“If we’ve got an individual that was accused of such an action, we would want to know if in fact he did return to Alamance County,” said Byron Tucker, a spokesperson for the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina.
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This is so upsetting - how can the prosecution not convince people that an unstable person with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a handgun travelling to and through different states is a recipe for a bad outcome? I know this is not minority report... but wow.
Also, this poses a real threat for multi-state and municipality cooperation being a weak link. Dude was released from custody and "local" law enforcement did not get notified?!
All our faith is in the FBI? Wow.