An Indiana man who
told police he was headed to Los Angeles' annual LGBT Pride event
when he was found with weapons and explosives in his car has been
sentenced.
According to The
Los Angeles Times, James Wesley Howell, 22, pleaded no
contest to weapons and explosive charges on Wednesday and was
sentenced to 7 years in state prison.
Santa Monica
police arrested Howell on June 12, 2016. They found three rifles,
two 30-round magazines, a five-gallon container of gasoline and a
25-pound container of “Shoc-shot” in his car. “Shoc-shot” is
an explosive that is detonated with a rifle.
“The amount of
explosives in the container would have posed a grave danger to both
persons and property had the explosives been detonated, either
intentionally or accidentally,” police said in a 2016 court filing.
Howell was
arrested just hours after a lone gunman killed 49 people at a gay
nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Police do not know
why Howell was headed toward Los Angeles Pride. A day after his 2016
arrest, Howell was charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl in
Indiana.