A man was found dead Saturday with two guns, loaded magazines and explosives in a mountaintop Colorado amusement park, officials said, adding that an attack at the remote location could have been “devastating.”The man was wearing body armor and tactical-style clothing when his body was discovered in Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that the man also was wearing emblems and badges that “gave the appearance of being associated with law enforcement.
The firearms found with the man were a semiautomatic rifle, a semiautomatic handgun and “multiple loaded magazines for both weapons,” the statement said. Officials also found explosive devices, some real and some fake, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said, according to the“Given the preparation, given the amount of weapons and ordnance he had, it almost seemed very highly likely he intended to use those against the community. He chose not to,” Vallario said.
The man “could have implemented an attack of devastating proportions upon our community and first responders,” Vallario’s office said in the statement Monday. The AP identified the man as Diego Barajas Medina, 20. He died of a self-inflected gunshot wound to the head, the AP reported, citing Garfield County Coroner Robert Glassmire.The man was found in a restroom in the park, where Vallario said a message was scrawled onto the wall: “I am not a killer, I just wanted to get into the caves. headtopics.com
Early investigations indicated that the man entered the amusement park “illegally” and “after hours” via a roadway when no members of staff or visitors were on-site, the sheriff’s office said. Specialist teams including a bomb squad entered the park to ensure that no explosive devices had been planted, and the teams were able to ensure that the venue was safe, the sheriff’s office said.
“Our investigation has so far indicated that nobody in the public was at risk; it would appear that the suspect’s actions were limited to the property of the Glenwood Caverns,” the sheriff’s officeIn the briefing Monday, Vallario said the man was armed with “ghost guns” — weapons usually obtained online without serial numbers, making them difficult to trace. headtopics.com