A former police officer from North Carolina, once recognized as “Officer of the Month,” is facing serious allegations of plotting to target Black individuals at a festival in Louisiana, as per reports from authorities.
Christopher Gillum, hailing from Chapel Hill, was sought by law enforcement in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, for issuing “terroristic threats.” He was subsequently located and apprehended at a hotel in Florida on Wednesday night, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities claim that Gillum was allegedly en route to commit a mass shooting at a major festival in Louisiana. He was discovered with approximately 200 rounds of ammunition and a handgun in his possession at his hotel room along Scenic Highway 98, as stated by the police.
While officials did not specify which festival was targeted, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a significant event drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors, was set to commence on Thursday.
Gillum’s family had reported him missing earlier in the week, expressing concerns that he was armed and had recently made threats against Black individuals, according to a bulletin from the Burlington police and information from Lt. Clint Lyons of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office.
Lyons noted that Gillum left North Carolina before authorities could complete the necessary documentation to mandate his involuntary psychiatric commitment.
He was eventually stopped by police in Okaloosa County on Wednesday, but did not “present any grounds for involuntary commitment or criminal charges,” according to police, who let Gillum drive away while telling officers he was headed to “New Orleans.”
Deputies were asked to make a “welfare check” on him on Wednesday morning, but were unaware he had made violent threats. Later that day, after learning about his alleged plot, he was surveilled and arrested on a warrant from Louisiana, police officials said.
Gillum was a Chapel Hill cop from 2004 up until his 2019 resignation, a town spokesperson told The Post.
He then was in and out of various law enforcement jobs — first as a cop in Carolina Beach for a year, starting in October 2019, WTVD reported.
In October 2023, he was hired as a detention officer with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina, leaving his post once again in July 2024, the outlet said.
Gillum returned “as a non-sworn” employee in Chapel Hill in 2024 — before leaving to work as an Orange County deputy between January and September 2025, according to the outlet and town officials.
The wannabe mass shooter was most recently remembered as Officer of the Month in June 2025 for his “attention to detail” helping to solve a gas station robbery, according to a social media post verified by the outlet.
“Gillum located a single latent fingerprint on a coffee cup used by the robber just before committing the crime,” the post said.
“This print allowed us to identify and arrest the suspect when security footage did not capture usable images. Well done, Deputy Gillum!”
It’s unclear why he resigned from so many positions.
Gillum was arrested as a fugitive from justice and will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges.
With Post wires
