FULLY LOADED: Cops seized these guns from the home of Neil Prescott (inset), who allegedly threatened to go on a shooting rampage. (
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A heavily armed Maryland man who called himself a “joker” was busted yesterday for allegedly threatening to launch a copycat attack that could have been as deadly as last week’s Colorado shooting.
Neil Prescott allegedly vowed to shoot up his old workplace, telling his ex-boss over the phone: “I’m a joker, and I’m gonna load my guns and blow everybody up.”
Prescott, recently fired from software firm Pitney Bowes, was grabbed by cops early yesterday.
He was found wearing a T-shirt that read, “Guns don’t kill people. I do.”
In Prescott’s Crofton home, officials found thousands of rounds of ammunition and more than 20 firearms, including two shotguns, two Mauser rifles and a Spike’s Tactical RM assault rifle.
He had permits for 13 of the guns, police said.
It wasn’t clear whether Prescott would have gone through with his threat. Prince George’s County Police Chief Mark Magaw said, “We can’t measure what was prevented.”
In their search-warrant application, cops said they feared another mass slaying like last Friday’s movie-theater rampage in Aurora, Colo., in which James Holmes allegedly killed 12 at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.”
“It is clear that the comment made by Prescott referenced a recent mass murder which occurred in Colorado,” it read.
Magaw said: “In light of what happened a week ago in Aurora, Colorado, it’s important to know, for the community to know, that we take all threats seriously.”
Prescott allegedly made the call to his former boss on Monday. During the call, he also told the supervisor he would like to see his “brain splatter all over the sidewalk,” the search-warrant application claims.
The supervisor hung up, but Prescott allegedly called back and again made threats.
But he allegedly added, “It’s kind of foolish of me to say this kind of thing over [a] government phone.”
It was not clear why Prescott was fired, but the papers say it had nothing to do with threats.