Missouri man plotted ‘Twilight’ theater shootings, police say

Police in Missouri have arrested a man they say confessed to a plan to wage an armed assault this weekend on a movie theater screening of the film “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2”.

Blaec Lammers, 20, was arrested after his mother tipped police in small-town Bolivar, Mo., that her son had purchased weapons similar to those used in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting and said she feared he might try to replicate the crime.

Lammers was charged Friday with first-degree assault, making a terroristic threat and armed criminal action.

“We’re sure breathing a sigh of relief tonight,” Bolivar police Sgt. Shawn Curtis told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s a job well done by our force. Obviously we’re getting a lot of media calls, but this guy is in jail now. It could have been a lot worse.”

Bolivar police have released a probable-cause statement that details the unlikely events.

According to the release, Lammers’ mother contacted authorities Thursday, expressing concern about her son’s possible plans. Soon, an officer approached Lammers at a hamburger restaurant and he was taken into custody. During a subsequent interview, Lammers said he had purchased two assault rifles for hunting.

But Lammers also admitted a chilling thought, the statement said.

“Blaec Lammers stated that he had a lot in common with the people that have been involved in those [Aurora] shootings. Blaec Lammers states that he was quiet, kind of a loner, had recently purchased firearms and didn’t tell anybody about it, and had homicidal thoughts,” according to the police release.

According to police, Lammers said he had bought tickets to a Sunday screening of the new “Twilight” movie and had purchased the guns with the intent of shooting people at the theater that night. He also told investigators that he also considered shooting customers at a Walmart in Bolivar because “if he ran out of ammunition he would be able to break the glass where the ammunition is stored and get more,” the statement said.

Lammers also said he wanted to stab a Walmart employee to death, and had gone to Walmart to follow an employee around the store before being contacted by officers, police said.

Lammers, who told authorities that he had never fired a gun, had already purchased 400 rounds of ammunition; he said he had purchased one of the guns earlier this week and gone to a nearby town to practice shooting. He also told police that he was “off his medication,” but the type of medication was not specified, police said.

Lammers is being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

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john.glionna@latimes.com

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