Ex-Cop Accused of Plotting New Orleans Festival Attack

Authorities say a man suspected of planning a mass shooting at a large New Orleans festival was arrested at a Florida hotel with a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The event was not named, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as JazzFest, runs from Thursday through May 3, the AP reports. The gathering celebrates Louisiana's music, food, and culture, and attracted about 460,000 people last year, organizers said.

• Christopher Gillum, a 44-year-old from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was wanted in Orleans Parish "by the Department of Public Safety for terroristic threats," the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office posted online Thursday. It said federal authorities had identified the alleged threat.
• The sheriff's office said authorities "obtained information Gillum planned to travel to a festival in New Orleans to conduct a mass shooting and then commit suicide by cop," CNN reports.

• The Okaloosa sheriff's office said Gillum was arrested without incident Wednesday night at a hotel in Destin, in the Florida Panhandle. Deputies recovered a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammunition from the hotel room, the statement said.
• CNN reports that Gillum was a Chapel Hill police officer between 2004 and 2019. Chapel Hill officials say he returned to the police department as a non-sworn employee in 2024 but left for another job later that year.
• Gillum was arrested as a fugitive from justice and will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges there, the sheriff's office said. Louisiana State Police spokesperson Trooper Danny Berrincha stated the agency is still investigating the episode with the FBI. "At this time, there are no known direct threats to any festivals in Louisiana," he said.
• "Job well done!" New Orleans Mayor Healena Moreno said, adding that the "coordination extended to law enforcement agencies in multiple states from North Carolina to Florida."