# Police arrest Missouri man planning a movie theater shooting **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256 "2012-11-17T00:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/1 "2012-11-17T00:15:15Z")
[http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/16/3921087/southwest-missouri-man-planned.html](http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/16/3921087/southwest-missouri-man-planned.html) His mother called the cops when she was worried that he was off his meds and had recently purchased a couple of assault rifles. He admitted to police that he had bought tickets to the Sunday showing of the new Twilight movie with the intent of shooting people, but then changed his mind and decided he was going to shoot up a Wal-Mart instead. The reason? He was afraid he’d run out of ammo and could get more if he was at a Wal-Mart. Holy crap. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/2 "2012-11-17T00:18:13Z")
Man, I always feel SO badly for the parents of kids not in full mental control. Seriously, how shitty is that to have to turn your kid in? And how many signs and suspicions, for how many years of worrying, before deciding to do so? And what about those that either can’t bring themselves to get authorities involved ‘because nothing’s happened yet, probably never will’ or truly don’t see the signs; how guilty must they feel later? Some days I wish I WERE Christian, and believed prayer helped anything. Because I would pray for them. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/3 "2012-11-17T00:18:32Z")
You gotta admire a well thought out crazy man’s plan. I wonder if he was planning on paying for more ammo at WalMart when he ran out, or if he was going to shoplift it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/4 "2012-11-17T01:48:16Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I wonder if he was planning on paying for more ammo at WalMart when he ran out, or if he was going to shoplift it. It’s true what they say. Mass murder can be a gateway crime to shoplifting. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/5 "2012-11-17T01:59:20Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > You gotta admire a well thought out crazy man’s plan. > > I wonder if he was planning on paying for more ammo at WalMart when he ran out, or if he was going to shoplift it. If I was working the gun counter, I’d be ready, waiting for him. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/6 "2012-11-17T03:05:52Z")
I was comfortable with this plan until he moved it away from the Twilight showing. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/7 "2012-11-17T03:16:07Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > If I was working the gun counter, I’d be ready, waiting for him. I’d offer to reload for him while he kept shooting. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/8 "2012-11-17T06:48:40Z")
Twilight fans and Wal-Mart shoppers? He may have been crazy, but at least he had his priorities right. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/9 "2012-11-17T12:16:47Z")
All joking aside, thank god for that man’s mother. She actually had the guts to call the police on her child and probably saved dozens of lives, including his. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/10 "2012-11-17T12:38:17Z")
No mention of how a person who is prescribed [assuming] mood stabilizing [/assuming] medications is able to purchase two assault weapons. Also would like to know what his trigger was. The local people should shower the mom’s work place and home with bouquets of flowers saying “Thank You” for being brave enough to contact the police about her son’s condition. ---
**Author:** ![dimmy\_derko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@dimmy\_derko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimmy_derko)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/11 "2012-11-17T12:38:43Z")
If he’d been after Twilight fans shopping in Wal-Mart, he’d have got my blessing. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/12 "2012-11-17T12:41:55Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > You gotta admire a well thought out crazy man’s plan. > > I wonder if he was planning on paying for more ammo at WalMart when he ran out, or if he was going to shoplift it. Realistically, he should have planned it for Black Friday when he’d probably get the ammo at 50% off. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/13 "2012-11-17T13:09:37Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Realistically, he should have planned it for Black Friday when he’d probably get the ammo at 50% off. What an awful thought - that would have doubled the death toll. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-arrest-missouri-man-planning-a-movie-theater-shooting/641256/14 "2012-11-17T13:26:34Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > What an awful thought - that would have doubled the death toll. I’m assuming that **Dangerosa’s** comment was in jest and that mine would also be taken in jest also. If you look about two comments above that, I’d already said that the mother was to be commended for taking action. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a Black Friday at Walmart in the US, but it is a miracle that there hasn’t already been gun fire just among the crowds that show up there. I once ‘covered’ a Black Friday at Walmart for an article. I wasn’t buying, just observing for the first hour after the ‘doors opened’ at midnight because the article needed to be in by 3am. The shoppers were terrible and very scary all on their own. (At the Walmart that I covered, they were open 24/7, so the ‘doors opening’ was really a bunch of clerks cutting shrink wrap from strategically placed pallets of product and mobs of people trying to snatch what ever was on the pallets.)