A former North Carolina law enforcement officer accused of threatening to commit a mass shooting at a New Orleans festival was quietly released from jail over the summer after his charges were refused, court and jail records show.
Christopher Gillum, 45, was released from the Orleans Justice Center on June 25 after a grand jury declined to indict him on a charge of terrorizing. Documents filed in Orleans Criminal Court show Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office filed to officially drop the charges on June 30.
On April 22, Gillum was detained at a Destin, Florida hotel after he was accused of allegedly planning to travel to a festival in New Orleans to commit a mass shooting before dying by suicide by cop. His family had warned law enforcement that he threatened to harm “Black people.”
Gillum was a former Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputy in North Carolina and previously worked for the Chapel Hill Police Department.
The investigation into Gillum spanned three states and was initiated after police in Burlington, North Carolina, issued an intelligence bulletin asking for help locating him, saying he was considered a missing person and flagged as potentially seeking to harm himself.
Murrill’s office and the FBI’s New Orleans office did not immediately return requests for comment.
The festival Gillum was accused of plotting gunfire at was never named, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was set to open the week of his arrest.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
