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Police: Employee Threatened Mass Shooting At Long Beach Marriott Hotel

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — Police say they have arrested a Long Beach Marriott employee who allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting at the hotel.

Rodolfo Montoya, 37, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Huntington Beach, where investigators found an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, according to Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna.

The threat was in response to some type of human resources dispute with his employer, Luna said.

"He was an employee at the hotel and he was upset about some recent workplace activity having to do with H.R.," Luna told reporters at a news conference announcing the arrest.

LB hotel threat
(Photo courtesy LBPD)

Montoya - who worked as a cook for the hotel - allegedly spoke to a fellow employee on Monday and threatened "that he was going to shoot up fellow employees and people coming into the hotel." That employee relayed the threat to the hotel's general manager, who called police, Luna said.

Police would not confirm if Montoya was about to be fired, but at the press conference the manager nodded his head affirmatively.

He said Montoya does not appear to have any criminal history that would prohibit him legally purchasing firearms, but some of the weapons found by police at Montoya's home "may be illegal to possess," along with some of the high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Montoya was being held on $500,000 bail, according to jail records.

On Wednesday evening, CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Stacey Butler spoke to Montoya's neighbors and co-workers.

Irma Escobito says when she worked with Montoya she sometimes felt uncomfortable. She never reported him, but said she wasn't surprised to learn he had a human resources issue.

Neighbor Ron Kaufman, meanwhile, didn't want to show his face but he says when he helped Montoya fix his car another neighbor warned him to stay away because of the many guns Montoya owned.

"He seemed relatively normal," Kaufman says, "but nothing surprises me any more."

 

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