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Texas man arrested after police say he was planning to commit a mass shooting at a Walmart

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Posted at 8:33 AM, Jun 01, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-01 11:13:43-04

A Texas sheriff's office says it has arrested a man who was planning to carry out a mass shooting at a Walmart.

In a Facebook post on Monday, the Kerr County Sheriff's Office said that following an investigation with the FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety, it arrested 28-year-old Coleman Thomas Blevins Friday on charges of making a terroristic threat.

According to the sheriff's department, investigators made contact with Blevins and confirmed that he was affiliated with "extremist ideologies." They later intercepted a message that he was planning to conduct a mass shooting, explicitly threatening a local Walmart.

Upon searching Blevins' home, officials found "electronic evidence" and "radical ideology paraphernalia, including books, flags, and handwritten documents." Police also seized guns and ammo that Blevins could not legally own because he's on active felony probation.

Among the items confiscated from Blevins' home was a "Black Sun: flag — a symbol adopted by Neo-Nazis after the war — the Confederate flag, the Saudi Arabian flag, the Spanish Nationalist Air Force Flag, and a The Great Schema flag — a symbol used by Orthodox monks to represent the instruments of the Passion of Christ.

"This case reminds us that we need to always be vigilant. Many think 'that can't happen here,' and it was well on the way to happening," Sheriff Larry Leitha said in a statement. "Our investigators did outstanding work in this case and possibly saved many lives. The plot interrupted in this case is unthinkable."

The Kerr County Sheriff's Office said that the FBI or other federal agencies may pursue additional charges in the case.