Agents arrest armed man after remark about Boulder

» An Iowa gun store refused to sell a semi-automatic rifle to a heavily armed and agitated Denver man who said he was surprised his friends didn’t suspect he was the Boulder mass shooter, according to federal court documents released Friday.

The Nebraska State Patrol initially arrested the self-described firearms enthusiast, Adam Vannoy, 40, on March 14 on Interstate 80 in Lancaster County. Another driver had called police to report he was driving recklessly at about 120 mph.

During a search of his packed truck, troopers seized a handgun from Vannoy’s jacket, a loaded ARstyle semi-automatic rifle with an illegal silencer, four other firearms, ammunition, a bulletproof blanket and vest, two brown wigs and an Air Force costume. They also found marijuana.

They jailed the man on weapons and drug charges. He was released after posting $5,000 bail on March 17, even though he threatened to kill a guard, exposed his penis to guards and threw feces from his cell into a common area, according to a federal complaint unsealed Friday.

Six days later, on Tuesday, Vannoy tried to purchase an AR-style rifle from Sportsman’s Warehouse in Ankeny, Iowa, near Des Moines, the complaint said.

The store denied the sale after Vannoy said he was surprised his friends hadn’t called to find out if he was responsible for Monday’s shooting in Boulder. A 21year-old man is charged with killing 10 people at a grocery store. Vannoy also said he had 500 rounds of ammunition in his truck.

In addition to denying the sale, the store notified the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about his comments. Agents arrested Vannoy in Iowa this week on a new federal charge stemming from the Nebraska traffic stop, illegal possession of a firearm as an unlawful user of marijuana.

Videos posted by Vannoy on Instagram show he purchased several firearms and ammunition at Brownell’s, a large retailer in Grinnell, Iowa, after his release from Nebraska custody.

He said on the videos that the best way to show the Nebraska State Patrol that he wasn’t plotting anything nefarious was to rearm himself.