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New York Post
Pastor arrested in Vegas hotel room with drugs and guns, sparking counter-terrorism probe into mass shooting: docs
By Isabel Keane,
3 hours ago
An evangelical pastor was busted in a Las Vegas hotel room with drugs and guns, including an AR-15 with a scope — leading counter-terrorism cops to fear he planned a mass shooting similar to the deadliest in US history, according to alarming court documents.
David McGee, 61, the senior pastor at the now-closed Bridge Fellowship in North Carolina, initially called the police himself to report something missing from his room at the Strat Hotel Casino & Tower, according to documents obtained by KLAS.
When police arrived, they asked if he had any weapons in the room — to which McGee replied, “Yes, I have a gun in my guitar case,” according to the report.
McGee was arrested with drugs and guns in his Vegas room last month, the court docs show. YouTube / @bridgetolife
The troubled pastor — who said he flew to Vegas on a private jet looking for his then-missing daughter in tunnels — had already been warned about the hotel’s strict policy against firearms after he was caught bringing a shotgun into his room days earlier, according to the court docs.
Counter-terrorism officers then found several firearms in his room, including an AR-15 with a scope — prompting fears he was planning a mass shooting similar to the 2017 one in which Stephen Paddock killed 60 people and injured more than 400 by firing from a Vegas hotel room, the documents stated.
Sin City has been on high alert since then for people bringing weapons to hotels after it emerged that Paddock had stockpiled weapons before firing more than 1,000 rounds at country music fans in the deadliest shooting carried out by a lone gunman in US history.
Despite those fears, police sent out a press release on the day McGee was arrested, Aug. 20, to say that rumors of a failed terror plot at the hotel were false, KLAS noted.
Cops were called to the Strat Hotel, where they found several firearms in McGee’s room. Getty Images
The pastor was also found with fentanyl pills and powder in his room, the document shows.
“McGee advised [the detective] that he brought the fentanyl from North Carolina on his private jet to Las Vegas and paid approximately $1,000” for it, the documents said.
“McGee stated that he was a user of fentanyl and intended to distribute the fentanyl to his daughter when he locates her.”
McGee posted about being in Las Vegas to find his missing daughter.
In the days leading up to his Vegas trip, McGee wrote on Facebook that he was traveling from Winston-Salem to Vegas to find his daughter, who he believed was living in a flood control tunnel.
“Pls [sic] pray for me as I go get my daughter from the worst [and] scariest place for my daughter in America… the Las Vegas tunnels,” McGee posted.
While McGee has not posted on social media since his arrest, his wife shared an update on Aug. 29 that he had been in touch with their daughter and was “asking for prayers for his health, wisdom, safety [and] discernment.”
Records showed that McGee did not appear for his probable cause hearing on Aug. 21 due to medical problems. A judge did not set bail in the case as prosecutors have not filed a criminal complaint.
He is due to return to court on Dec. 19, according to the outlet.
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