Punta Gorda man threatened mass shooting at Memphis Church
A Punta Gorda man was in the works of planning a mass shooting and suicide, according to reports.
Thomas McVicker, 38, was arrested in Indianapolis before he was able to execute his plan.
The texts revealed he would commit a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tennesee.
McVicker made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” planned for Thursday, an FBI special agent said in a sworn affidavit.
A friend of McVicker contacted authorities and told him he was planning “shooting a church up” or killing people on the street.
According to reports, in a telephone call, the friend said McVicker told her the church shooting would happen when he was in Memphis on Thursday and that he “intended to take his knife and slit the pastor’s throat.”
Court records list McVicker’s address as Punta Gorda, Florida, but his Alabama friend told the FBI that McVicker lives in his semi. The records don’t list a lawyer who could be reached for comment on McVicker’s behalf.
He was arrested by Indiana State Police and the FBI, said Chris Bavender, an FBI spokesman in Indianapolis.
