Police in Richmond, Virginia said Wednesday that they managed to prevent a planned 4th of July mass shooting after receiving a tip that led to the arrest of two men and the seizure of several weapons.
A “hero citizen” heard a conversation indicating an attack was being planned at the city’s popular Independence Day celebration and called police to report it, Police Chief Gerald Smith said at a news conference.
Police launched an investigation, along with the US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, which led to the arrest of two men accused of being non-US citizens in possession of a firearm. Additional fees are possible, Smith said.
Officers seized two assault rifles, a handgun and hundreds of pieces of ammunition from a residence where firearms and “related material” were on display, the police chief announced.
According to authorities, the two men were being held without bail at a local jail.
The apparently foiled plot was planned for the same day a gunman opened fire from a rooftop during a Fourth of July parade in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park, killing seven people and wounding more than three dozen.
Robert E. Crimo III was charged with seven counts of murder on Tuesday. The shooting sent hundreds of people fleeing in terror and sparked an hour-long manhunt. Authorities have yet to identify a motive in that shooting.