Former LB Hotel Employee Pleads No Contest in Threat of Mass Shooting

Former LB Hotel Employee Pleads No Contest in Threat of Mass Shooting

by Contributing Editor

A former Long Beach Marriott hotel chef who threatened to shoot up his place of business pleaded no contest Monday to making criminal threats.

Rodolfo Montoya, 37, of Huntington Beach, is set to be sentenced Jan. 27 in Long Beach. He faces three years and eight months in prison as a result of the plea negotiated with prosecutors.

Last Aug. 19, Montoya told a co-worker “that he was going to shoot up fellow employees and people coming into the hotel,” Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna said at a news conference announcing the chef’s arrest.

The co-worker told the hotel’s general manager, Imran Ahmed, who called police.

A subsequent search of Montoya’s home yielded tactical gear, a variety of weapons — including a AR-15 rifle — and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to Luna, who alleged the defendant was “upset about some recent workplace activity having to do with H.R. (human resources).”

The police chief thanked Ahmed for coming forward and alerting investigators.

“Sir, you saved many lives, not only of your employees but any customers that may have been at the Marriott when this guy decided to show up and carry out his threat,” Luna said then.

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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com