“The Cartersville Police Department was alerted by the family of Mr. Cagle that he was streaming on social media that he was headed to the Atlanta airport, in their words, to ‘shoot it up,’ and the family stated that he was in possession of an assault rifle,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference, where he also said Cagle had a previous felony conviction. ”We’re here today briefing you on a success and not a tragedy because a family saw something and said something.”
According to Cartersville Police Captain Greg Sparacio, Cagle “had the intention to inflict harm to as many people as he could.” But while they were able to stop him before he actually hurt anyone, he came a lot closer than the folks who were flying that day probably would have liked. Surveillance video shows Cagle arriving at the airport at about 9:30 a.m. He then walked over to a TSA security checkpoint and, according to Schierbaum, had ”high interest in that area.” If he had walked in shooting, things likely would have ended very differently, but instead, Atlanta police already had a photo of him provided by the family and were able to arrest him without incident.
Facing federal charges
Atlanta’s 11 Alive News also reports that Cagle is now in federal custody and faces a slew of federal charges, including making terroristic threats, criminal attempt to commit aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a felon. According to Schierbaum, Atlanta police also plan to investigate where he got the rifle, “which he was not able to legally possess.”…