(NewsNation) — The suspect at the center of a mass shooting plot at a crowded Washington state music festival is due in court Monday.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Facebook deputies were called around 9 p.m. Friday when concertgoers at the Gorge Amphitheater witnessed the man, 31-year-old Jonathan R. Moody, inhale an intoxicant before loading two 9 mm pistols in the parking lot.
Police estimated upward of 25,000 people were at the amphitheater for an electronic dance music festival. Moody allegedly was asking concertgoers what time the event ended and where people would exit the venue.
Moody was arrested on suspicion of one count of possession of a dangerous weapon and one count of unlawful carrying or handling of a weapon. He never entered the amphitheater, police said, and nobody was injured.
The venue does not allow weapons.
“Moody’s possession of weapons was not the lone factor for his arrest,” the Sheriff’s Office said in the Facebook release. “Moody’s actions of appearing to inhale an intoxicant, loading weapons in the parking lot, and his questions about where concertgoers would be exiting and at what time, furthered the suspicions of witnesses and deputies.”
Moody did not make any statements to deputies and was being held in the Grant County Jail.
The Sheriff’s Office lauded witnesses who reported the behavior.
“Citizens saw something completely out of place for the circumstances and notified security, who in turn notified deputies,” the department said. “That combination of situational awareness along with noticing ‘something does not fit’ resulted in a possible tragedy being prevented.”