Prior to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers on Tuesday night, Las Vegas police arrested a man who allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting at T-Mobile Arena, according to the Associated Press.
Matthew DeSavio, 33, was arrested hours before puck drop and is facing a charge of threatening an act of terrorism or mass destruction.
In several phone calls, text messages and social media posts, DeSavio threatened to "shoot up" the Stanley Cup Final game, per the police report. The exact details of DeSavio's threats leading up to Game 5 are not known at this time, but least three different individuals contacted the police about DeSavio's posts on social media, including a former grade school acquaintance who accused DeSavio of stalking her.
Another person who alerted authorities to the social media posts was a relative of DeSavio who had a restraining order against him.
A woman who claimed DeSavio had been harassing her for years said he called her on Tuesday to say he was coming to her office.
"No more nice man," DeSavio said, according to the arrest report. "I'm headed to your office now. I'm almost there."
She called 911 and, according to ESPN, DeSavio was arrested upon arriving at the woman's workplace. The police report does not indicate whether he had any weapons in his possession at the time. DeSavio was then taken to county jail and is being held on a $60,000 bond. He has not been formally charged and is slated to appear in court later in June.
This was not DeSavio's first arrest in Las Vegas. His run-ins with the law go back to 2014, and he has been charged with domestic battery and stalking in the past. As recently as last October, DeSavio was charged with threatening an act of terrorism or mass destruction. A judge dismissed that charge in April after the state could not get him a bed at one of its psychiatric facilities.
In 2017, just days before the Golden Knights' first game in team history, the deadliest mass shooting in American history happened on the Las Vegas Strip at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. The shooting killed 60 people and injured at least 413 more.
