We may have just missed having another tragedy late Wednesday night in Seattle. Police there arrested a man seen hanging around the University of Washington campus in a stolen truck. When they searched it, they found a frightening cache of weapons.
The man was arrested a few blocks away after a police pursuit near Seattle Children's Hospital late Wednesday, said John Vinson, chief of the University of Washington police. He gave no further details of the pursuit, but he described the arrest as "high-risk."
Justin Miles Jasper was arrested early Thursday and was being held without bail in the King County jail on suspicion of possessing an incendiary device. Jail records gave no age or hometown for Jasper, but Vinson said the suspect was 21 years old and from Nevada.
Vinson said investigators "have no idea what his intentions are."
Police first saw Jasper sleeping in his van on Tuesday. A records check turned up clean, so they let him go. However, on Wednesday morning they discovered that his truck had been reported stolen out of Butte, Montana. They put out an APB for it, and found it at around 10:30 on Wednesday night. They arrested him just a few yards from the Children's Hospital. When police searched the van, they found a rifle with a scope attachment, a shotgun, body armor and numerous Molotov cocktails.
According to the Seattle Times, police think the weapons were stolen as well. The Times also found a blog that appears to be authored by Jasper that contains numerous rants about anarchy and revolution, as well as pictures of machine guns and swords. He claims to have "privileges and respect in a sick society that for the arbitrary reasons lifts me above everyone else."
KIRO-TV in Seattle reports that Jasper is due for a bail hearing this afternoon. While UW and Seattle police say there's no threat to the university community, the velocity with which Jasper will be remanded to custody should create quite the breeze.
9:40 AM PT: Since this made the rec list, I thought I'd say that I'm of the mind the cop who ran that check on Jasper's vehicle should get a medal. He no doubt saw something that didn't add up even though the initial check came up clean, and decided to check the truck. And as a result, dozens of lives may have been saved.