FBI: Austin man plotting mass shooting arrested on weapons charges
Federal officials say they might have foiled a mass shooting in Austin this month, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. Western District Court.
A confidential source told the FBI that Steven Thomas Boehle, 50, is a right-wing extremist who had planned the attack, according to the affidavit. The six-page filing does not give many specifics about the alleged plot, but does reveal that on April 12 Austin police seized three guns and about 1,100 rounds of ammunition from a North Austin residence where Boehle had been staying.
The document says the source told authorities Boehle “exhibits sovereign citizen extremism ideology.”
Boehle is charged with making a false statement in connection with the attempted acquisition of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He is banned from purchasing firearms because of a 1993 misdemeanor assault conviction in Connecticut. The victim in that incident was an intimate partner of Boehle’s.
Boehle on three occasions had attempted to buy a firearm from an Austin-area retailer, according to the affidavit, but was denied each time. Boehle responded “no” each time to a question asking if he had ever been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. His most recent attempt came in December 2016 at Central Texas Gun Works on Ben White Boulevard.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/crime--law/fbi-austin-man-plotting-mass-shooting-arrested-weapons-charges/Js7cJF0eilpUKpmbc4wIeM/
