The Boston Police Department was on top of its game when they caught them all at the Hynes Convention Center. Two men were arrested after their plans to smuggle in a rifle and several rounds of ammunition into the Pokemon World Championship held at the convention center were revealed.
Two men, Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27 were allegedly plotting to kill and inflict violence during the event after boasting and threatening several players on social media. The men had driven to the even all the way from Iowa and were found with firearms in their possession and no lisence to carry such weapons.
When officers were granted a search warrant, they found a 12-gauge Remington shotgun, and a DPM5 Model AR-15 rifle, in addition to several hundreds of rounds of ammunition in their vehicle.
Reportedly, the police are continueing their investigation on the motives of the two men for wanting to kill players at the Pokemon World Championship.
Before the event, Stumbo had uploaded a photo onto his Facebook account showing some weapons about to be loaded onto his vehicle with the caption, "Kevin Norton and I are ready for the worlds [sic] Boston here we come!!!"
Although they had known of a threat made againt several of the players taking part in the championships, some players did not completely believe the online threats would be followed through.
"I might have canceled if I had known about the threats sooner ... I would have been really scared, I definitely would have had second thoughts. I thought the people doing it were really dumb, to post it on Facebook like that. I guess I didn't really believe it until I read the police article, but it reassures me to know they did a good job," said 20-year-old James Eakes of California.
Meanwhile, organizers of the event shared in a statement that they knew of the threat before the event and notified the police immediately for assistance and sent them all the information they had on the security issue. They are hailing the JOhn B. Hynes Veterans Center Memorial authorities, as well as the Boston Police Department for their swift action and maintaining the safely of the event. The organizaers, as well as the players and are happy, grateful, and relieved that the department did their job in keeping them all safe.
"Due to quick action, the potential threat was resolved," the Pokemon Company International said about the incident in a statement.
The two men were charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, ammunition, and other firearms-related charges.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
