Heavily armed man planned mass shooting in Colorado but killed himself before he could carry it out

 

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. Fox News. 

A heavily armed man planned a mass shooting at a Colorado amusement park but killed himself before he could carry it out. Fox News. The man was found in a woman's bathroom in the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. He was heavily armed with a rifle, handgun, and explosives, along with extra magazines, body armor and patches that falsely indicated he was with law enforcement. "I'm not a killer, I just want to get into the caves" was cryptically written in the bathroom where he was found. The man was 20 years old and has not been identified yet. 

My Comment:

Strange story out of Colorado and it looks like a major incident was avoided because the man involved decided to end it instead of carrying it out. That's probably the best case scenario for an attempted mass shooting/bombing and it's a good thing that he died.

I don't think the shooter was particularly heavily armed. Supposedly he only had two magazines for both weapons he had, which is not a lot. He had body armor as well, but that doesn't matter that much if you run out of ammo right away. Still, he certainly could have done some damage with what he had. 

What is a lot more concerning was the fact that he had explosives as well. Some of those were reportedly fake, he had fake pipe bombs and grenades, but some of the explosives were real. The real explosives had potential to kill quite a few people and could have caused utter chaos during the shooting, assuming they even worked. Even the fake explosives would have made the police response more 

One wonders how the man was able to purchase a handgun since you have to be 21 to buy one. It's possible that he stole them or purchased them illegally. It just goes to show that gun laws do little to prevent these mass shootings. However, I have seen some differing ages for this man, some accounts have him at 24 instead of 20. 

The other thing I can't quite get is what he meant with his suicide note. Was he just joking about how he was taking his own life? Was it something more cryptic? Or did he even write it at all? It wouldn't be the first time that someone left a note in a bathroom after all. 

I try not to cover mass shootings unless they have a major political component because I have said for a long time that coverage of mass shootings is a major cause of them. Indeed, this attack might have been inspired by the recent shooting in main, but given the explosives the guy had that seems somewhat unlikely. 

But in this case I think it is important to cover it. Why? Well, like mass shootings, suicide is something that transmits from the media as well. And I would like the next potential mass shooter to do something like this instead of killing a bunch of people. I would rather they just choose to not do either but that isn't always an option...