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Police foil potential gun attack on Pokemon World Championships

Police foil potential gun attack on Pokemon World Championships

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Two suspects arrested in Boston with firearms and ammunition in their car

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Boston Police Department

Police in Boston have arrested two men on suspicion of threatening to attack the Pokemon World Championships. As Motherboard reports, Kevin Norton and James Stumbo were arrested on Saturday after police were tipped to threats that the men posted on Facebook. Norton, 18, and Stumbo, 27, drove from Iowa to participate in the tournament, and had previously posted a photo of a shotgun and an AR-15 rifle on the trunk of their car. Police later searched their car and found a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15, a large hunting knife, and "several hundred rounds of ammunition." The pair did not have a license to carry the weapons, and were arrested on several firearm-related charges.

"A potential tragedy."

Both Norton and Stumbo had qualified for this year's World Championships after winning competitions in Missouri and Nebraska, respectively. The event ran from Friday to Sunday, offering more than $500,000 in scholarship prizes. Those attending the tournament were not informed of the threat until Saturday, Motherboard reports, though bomb dogs were deployed throughout the venue. In a statement, the Boston Police Department praised security at the convention center for alerting them to the threat early on.

"This incident is a good example of private security reaching out to their local Boston police district and relaying information to detectives and BRIC analysts in order to identify the very real threat," said Paul Fitzgerald, the department's Bureau of Intelligence and Analysis Commander Superintendent. "The BPD detectives and collaborating agencies did a great job in the stop and prevention of a potential tragedy."