The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office and the FBI said they prevented a mass shooting planned by a Loxahatchee man, who possessed 18 firearms, 12,000 rounds of ammunition, two-way radios, and law enforcement officer uniforms.
“This guy was ready to go, had all the equipment, and had the propensity to do it,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “It was a just a matter of what day was going to set him off to go do it.”
“This is a dangerous, dangerous individual,” said Bradshaw in describing the suspect, 22-year-old Damien Allen.
Allen was apprehended by Palm Beach County detectives following an FBI guardian tip and search warrant that led investigators to an arsenal of weapons at the home he shared with his parents.
Allen boasted on social media sites that he planned to attack churches for racial reasons and ambush law enforcement officers, according to Bradshaw, who said PSO worked on the tip it received last week from the FBI about Allen’s online activity.
Bradshaw applauded the work of PBSO and the FBI, saying the investigation “prevented people from dying, because I guarantee you he was going to do that.”
PBSO and FBI officials said they are continuing their investigation to learn where the suspect obtained the weapons and ammunition.
Allen was arrested and charged with various felony crimes that include making written threats to commit a mass shooting; impersonating a law enforcement officer and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
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Law enforcement authorities said Allen had communicated online last spring with the suspect that committed the December 2024 school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Two people were killed and six others injured before the shooter died by suicide.
Nicole Hockley, co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise and mother of Dylan who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, said she was "grateful" police acted on the tip about Allen.
“Bragging about access to weapons and discussing detailed plans for an attack must never be ignored," she said. "Many previous mass shooters displayed similar behaviors before committing horrifying crimes."
"Thanks to the awareness and quick actions in Palm Beach County, an entire community has been spared the devastating trauma of a mass shooting," she said.
Hockley also noted that it's not unusual for those wanting to carry out mass shootings to get in contact with high-profile shooters in other mass tragedies.
“It's not the first time this year that a would-be shooter was reportedly in contact with a perpetrator of a previous mass tragedy," said Hockley. "Similar details emerged after the averted shooting in Mooresville, Indiana, this February, in which the suspect had written to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter in prison."
"As history has shown, the idolization of other shooters and mass murderers is another deeply troubling warning sign that must be taken seriously," she said.
