A man accused of planning a mass shooting at a New Orleans festival was quietly released from custody over the summer after a grand jury found there was not enough evidence to charge him with a crime.
A Louisiana grand jury in June declined to indict Christopher Gillum on a state terrorism charge that could have carried up to a 15-year sentence, court records show.
Gillum, who had been held without bond, was released shortly after the grand jury’s decision and is not facing charges in any other jurisdictions, according to his attorney, Dylan Utley. He declined to comment further.
Gillum’s release has not previously been reported.
The 45-year-old ex-police officer, who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had been arrested in Florida in April with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a handgun while on his way to Louisiana to commit a mass shooting, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation had involved the FBI and authorities across Louisiana, North Carolina and Florida.
Authorities did not name the event Gillum was allegedly targeting.
The office of the Florida Attorney General did not respond to a request for comment about whether Gillum may face additional criminal charges in its jurisdiction. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana also did not return messages seeking comment.
In a statement, the FBI New Orleans office said the decision whether to charge Gillum rested with prosecutors.
Attorney General Liz Murrill issued the following statement:
“A Grand Jury declined charges based on the facts showing that this individual was arrested in Florida, was from another state, and never made it to Louisiana. The individual made vague statements to family members, but those statements did not directly state an intent to carry out any crimes in Louisiana. Law enforcement concluded it was highly possible that the individual might be targeting Jazz Fest, which was happening at that time. Though the Grand Jury declined charges based on these facts, I want to thank state and federal law enforcement officials who coordinated and successfully stopped this individual in Florida from carrying out whatever it was he was planning, wherever he might have been planning to carry it out.”
Gillum was released, and Murrill says, to her best understanding, his family took him to a treatment facility out of state.
READ MORE:Ex-officer accused of plotting New Orleans attack is released after grand jury declines to indict
