Armed man caught
Former Marine was en route to a church armed with weapon
A masked man armed with a semi-automatic handgun and extra ammunition is arrested as he makes his way to a church in Seguin to fulfill a “prophesy,” officials say.
In an incident with eerie overtones of last year’s Sutherland Springs church massacre, a masked man carrying a semi-automatic handgun and extra ammunition was arrested in Seguin Sunday morning as he made his way to an unidentified church “to fulfill a prophecy,” authorities said.
Tony Dwayne Albert II, 33, of Houston, was wearing tacticalstyle clothing and a white surgical mask when he was arrested near West Kingsbury and West Court streets in Seguin around 7 a.m., police said. His handgun was loaded, and he was carrying a magazine of ammunition, they said.
An unnamed citizen had noticed Albert’s odd attire and called police. An off-duty officer was first to respond.
Albert, a former Marine, “was allegedly en route to an unidentified church to fulfill what he called a prophecy,” said Officer Tanya Brown, a Seguin Police Department spokeswoman.
Brown said Albert was cooperative but did not identify the church.
“We don’t want to speculate, so we can’t say what his plans were, if any,” Brown said. “But if this individual was not stopped and apprehended, the results could have ended differently.”
She said police were “extremely grateful” to the person who alerted authorities.
Albert was being held in the Guadalupe County Detention Center on a $100,000 bond, re-
cords show. He was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of marijuana under two ounces.
Brown said the Texas Rangers, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting with the investigation. She said it was possible additional charges would be filed.
Albert has a lengthy criminal history, records show. He’s been arrested six times in Harris County on various charges dating to 2009. He was convicted in four of those cases: for driving while intoxicated, possession of marijuana under two ounces, attempting to disarm a police officer and, most recently, assault of a family member causing bodily injury.
His link to the Seguin area is unknown, Brown said.
In a court filing in January, Albert wrote that he was associated with Messianic Judaism, a modern religious movement that combines Christianity with elements of Judaism, and with the First Church of Cannabis, a religious organization that contends marijuana is a healing plant.
Albert was jailed the month before for allegedly violating terms of his probation. In the court filing, he sought to justify his marijuana use by tying it to “a stated religious conviction regarding the usage of cannabis.”
He wrote: “This affiliation is generally a very private and secretive one as the desire of we affiliates is to separate ourselves from recreational cannabis users who continue to pervert the usage of our sacrament.”
Bill Levin, founder of the First Church of Cannabis, said he does not know Albert and does not believe him to be a dues-paying member of the Indiana-based house of worship.
As for the prophecy Albert allegedly intended to fulfill on Sunday, Levin said: “Didn’t come from us. We are not a Bible-based religion. We broadcast every Wednesday night. We have viewers all around the world.
“I can’t account for anyone’s actions on who is watching,” he added.
In 2009, in what appears to be his first run-in with law enforcement, Albert was arrested in Harris County after a police officer pulled him over and conducted a breathalyzer test. Albert’s blood alcohol content was .08 percent, the threshhold for drunken driving in Texas, records show. Albert pleaded guilty to DWI and was sentenced to 30 days in the Harris County Jail, followed by one year of community supervision.
In 2014, a Houston police officer arrested Albert after he was found with less than two ounces of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor. Albert pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three days in jail.
In July 2016, he was arrested in Kingfisher County in Oklahoma after he attempted to elude a police officer, a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty and received a 39day jail sentence.
Albert was arrested again later the same year after he attempted to grab a firearm from a Houston police officer.
The case was handled in Harris County Veterans’ Court, a specialty court designed to increase access to mental health and addiction treatment for veterans. Albert pleaded guilty to attempting to disarm a police officer and was sentenced to two years’ probation as part of a plea bargain.
Most recently, in March 2017, Albert was arrested after he struck a woman with whom he was living. He pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
In January, as part of his probation for the 2016 case of attempting to disarm a police officer, Albert entered a residential substance abuse treatment center in Humble for individuals with mental health issues and substance abuse history, court records show. He successfully completed the Dual Diagnosis Residential Program and was released, records show.
Athill Muhammad, a Houston lawyer who represented Albert in two of his criminal cases, described him as “a fine, upstanding man” who had been honorably discharged from the military.
“If anything of this is true, I’m very, very surprised,” Muhammad said.
After Albert’s arrest Sunday, hundreds of Facebook users thanked the anonymous citizen who called police and the off-duty officer who was the first on the scene.
“Thanks be to God for those who watch and report,” one user wrote.
The Sutherland Springs tragedy unfolded 21 miles southwest of Seguin. On Sunday morning, Nov. 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley, a former airman with a history of domestic violence and mental illness, opened fire on worshipers at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, killing 26 people and injuring 20.
Kelley, 26, wore a black mask and tactical gear and wielded a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic rifle. He fled the scene in his SUV and killed himself as pursuers closed in.