Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is upon us, and festivities are already underway in Denver for the annual midsummer classic. But an alarming report of arrests on weapons charges ahead of the game in Colorado made headlines on Sunday with some wondering if a dangerous incident was averted thanks to an alert hotel maid.
Reports emerged on Sunday that four people were arrested blocks from Coors Field in Denver on weapons charges following an investigation that stemmed from a maid stumbling upon a large cache of weapons and ammunition in a nearby hotel room. According to ESPN, the four people arrested were staying at the Maven Hotel, which overlooks an area where a fan festival is being held for the All-Star Game that was moved to Denver earlier this year.
The police department has not announced details about the evidence, but local ABC affiliate Denver7, citing multiple law enforcement sources, reported Saturday that police discovered 16 long guns, body armor and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from an eighth-floor hotel room that had a balcony overlooking Denver’s downtown area.
Police executed the search warrants for the rooms after receiving the tip from a maid at the hotel, according to multiple reports.
The game, initially scheduled to be held at Truist Park in Georgia, was moved after the state passed controversial voting laws widely seen as restrictive and targeting minorities to make it more difficult to vote. The moving of the All-Star Game became a hot-button right-wing talking point in the months that followed, with campaign events held in venues near the Braves stadium in Cobb County, which will sit empty this week.
According to the report, police initially haven’t tied the arrests directly to the All-Star Game or any political motives. But the arrests and the circumstances are alarming, and reminded some of deadly mass shooting incidents like one that occurred at a country music festival in Las Vegas in 2017 that killed 61 people. According to Denver7, that’s exactly what authorities feared and at least one social media post from one of the men arrested contained some ominous wording while more than one had outstanding warrants in other jurisdictions.
Sources said police removed 16 long guns, body armor and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from the room which featured a balcony overlooking the downtown area. The sources said they feared the number of weapons, ammo, vantage point and large crowds could have resulted in a “Las Vegas-style shooting.”
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One of the suspects arrested Friday night had posted a message on Facebook referencing a recent divorce and saying he was going to “go out in a big way,” according to the multiple law enforcement sources.
It’s unclear if this will impact security for the events in Denver this week, but it’s another unsettling reminder of the threat of gun violence in America. Thankfully the maid who discovered these weapons acted quickly and may have averted a tragedy.
[via Denver7]