A former police officer from North Carolina has been apprehended in Florida amid allegations that he intended to execute a mass shooting at a music festival in New Orleans.
The individual, identified as 45-year-old Christopher Gillum from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken into custody by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office at approximately 6:40 p.m. on Wednesday at a hotel in Destin, Florida.
Officials have stated that Gillum was wanted on charges of making “terroristic threats” and was suspected of heading to New Orleans with plans to “carry out a mass shooting” at a festival.
During the investigation, law enforcement recovered a handgun along with roughly 200 rounds of ammunition from his hotel room.
Authorities managed to track and arrest Gillum at the Florida hotel after receiving intelligence regarding his alleged scheme to launch a mass shooting at the New Orleans event, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Gillum had been reported missing by his family on Tuesday. They informed authorities of his previous struggles with self-harm and threats he had made against “Black people,” as indicated in a police bulletin from Burlington, North Carolina.
Lt. Clint Lyons of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office said Gillum left the state before authorities could initiate an involuntary commitment, adding there were no legal grounds to detain him at the time.
Earlier Wednesday, Gillum was stopped by law enforcement in Okaloosa County but was released because he did not meet criteria for arrest or commitment, according to the bulletin.
Authorities arrested a former North Carolina police officer in Florida after investigators said he planned a mass shooting at a New Orleans music festival, officials said. (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies later conducted surveillance after learning he was under investigation and arrested him once a warrant was issued from Louisiana, authorities said.
Gillum is expected to be extradited to Louisiana to face charges, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities did not name the event, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — known as Jazz Fest — runs through May 3 and draws hundreds of thousands of attendees annually. Louisiana State Police said “there are no known direct threats” to any festivals in the state.
A former police officer was taken into custody in Florida after authorities said they found a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in an alleged plot targeting a New Orleans festival. (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Gillum served as a sworn police officer in Chapel Hill from 2004 until his resignation in 2019, according to a town spokesperson.
He later worked as a police officer in Carolina Beach from October 2019 to October 2020, then became a detention officer with the Orange County, North Carolina, Sheriff’s Office in October 2023, leaving in July 2024.
A handgun and ammunition recovered from a Florida hotel room are shown after authorities arrested a suspect in an alleged plot targeting a New Orleans festival, officials said. (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Gillum returned to the Chapel Hill Police Department as a non-sworn employee in 2024 before leaving later that year. He was rehired as an Orange County sheriff’s deputy in January 2025 but resigned that September.
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