© Google MapsA housekeeper notified police after she found several weapons at the Maven Hotel near Coors Field, where the MLB All-Star Game will be played.
A hotel maid is being hailed for her role in preventing what police fear could have been a "Las Vegas style shooting" at the upcoming MLB All-Star Game in Denver, a report said Saturday.
The housekeeper tipped off cops after she found more than a
dozen weapons and 1,000 rounds of ammunition at a hotel near Coors Field on Friday,
according to ABC7 Denver.
The alarming discovery was made inside a room on the eighth floor of the Maven Hotel, just two blocks from the mile-high ballpark that is hosting the "Midsummer Classic" Tuesday, the station said.
Cops removed 16 long guns, body armor and ammo from the room, which had a balcony overlooking Denver's downtown, the outlet reported.Three men and a woman were arrested and charged with weapons possessions in connection with the cache. Three of the suspects were previous offenders, and three of them also were charged with intent to distribute drugs, the report said.
One suspect, a recent divorcee, had posted a cryptic Facebook message saying he would "go out in a big way," sources told the station.
"The investigation and arrests were the result of a tip from the public, serving as an excellent example of the critical role the community plays in public safety," police said in a statement Saturday night.
In 2017, a gunman
opened fire from the balcony of a Paradise, Nevada, hotel during a music festival, killing 59 people and injuring hundreds more. It was the largest mass shooting in US history.
Comment: The Denver Post reported that the arrest affidavits for the four suspects indicated no evidence of a mass shooting plot but the police have refused to rule it out as a possibility. They further stated:
Wheeler also noted the lengthy criminal histories for Gabriel Rodriguez and Ricardo Rodriguez as she determined bond, both in Colorado and elsewhere. Ricardo Rodriguez's attorney, Liz Krupa, said he is "gainfully employed," and has family in Colorado. She said he is planning to move to Colorado.
Ricardo Rodriguez, who is not related to Gabriel Rodriguez, claimed during his court appearance that he formerly worked for the federal government, although it was not immediately clear in what capacity. He appeared to react with disbelief when prosecutor Michelle Williams described him as the apparent "leader of this entire incident" and "a serious danger to the community."
Ricardo Rodriguez told CBS Denver in a jailhouse interview after his arrest that he was not aware of any plan for a mass shooting and that other members of the group intended to sell and trade the guns in the hotel rooms.
Stranger than fiction? CBS Denver
states:
In court, a prosecutor called Ricardo Rodriguez (unrelated to Gabriel) the leader. He claimed a most interesting resume.
"That includes the Department of Homeland Security, counterterrorism division, and the Department of the Treasury for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms as well as the U.S. Department of Justice."
The FBI Denver field office
said they have "no reason to believe this incident was connected to terrorism or a threat directed at the All-Star Game".
Predictably, some Twitter users have called for the tightening of gun laws and have criticized
Governor Greg Abbott for signing a law barring hotels from disallowing guests to store guns or ammo in their rooms. Was this a failed false flag event, or a drug/ arms deal gone wrong, or something else?
R.C.