Prosecutors said a Florida man detained on Halloween for criminal firearms violations had a list of targets that included a U.S. congressman and places he frequented with Black and Jewish individuals.
On federal allegations of being a felon in possession of a firearm and having an unregistered gun suppressor, 41-year-old John Lapinski was placed in jail without being granted bail.
Whether Lapinski has hired legal counsel for the case was unclear on Tuesday. A request for comment was not immediately answered by South Florida’s Federal Public Defender.
New information on Lapinski’s arrest and the search of his items that followed, where police allegedly discovered the list, guns, and ammunition, was included in a factual proffer submitted on Tuesday in favor of keeping him in jail.
According to the proffer, which was signed by Assistant United States Attorney Marc Anton, police in Margate, 40 miles north of Miami, were summoned to a report of gunfire at around 6:30 a.m. on October 31. They focused on a residence where a homeowner said that only she and her brother, Lapinski, were present.
According to Anton’s complaint, cops apprehended Lapinski after speaking with the sister and concluding he was the shooter. He was then sent to a medical facility for a mental evaluation.
According to Anton, a routine search of the house revealed evidence of firearms, including spent bullet casings and a constructed target, but no injuries were reported.
According to the federal prosecutor, officers learned that Lapinski was facing a restraining order for a domestic violence case from 2017 and had been convicted twice in 2005 for using violence to impede an officer, a felony. In both cases, a judge barred the defendant from owning firearms and ammunition.
According to Anton, authorities investigated the scene of the arrest with a judge’s permission and discovered many firearms, including an AR-15 platform rifle that was identified as a Palmetto State Armory Liberty-15.
The “Liberty-15” “stripped lower receiver,” a frame that houses a weapon’s trigger and is required by federal law to have a serial number, is made by gunmaker and retailer Palmetto State Armory and is compatible with the AR-15.
The proffer also reported finding a shotgun, two semiautomatic handguns, a shotgun, body armor, smoke grenades, suspected silencers, a clipboard with a list of targets, a similar long gun described as a Black Aces Tactical FD 12 shotgun, a semiautomatic rifle with a pistol grip and cooling fins, and a variety of ammunition, some of it spent.
According to Anton’s complaint, one of the silencers was made with an automobile oil filter and was not properly registered with federal authorities.
According to Anton’s filing, the alleged list of targets includes U.S. Representative Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida, as well as places the list’s author described as attractions for Black and Jewish people, such as a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery, a Jewish sandwich shop, parks, and schools that were mentioned using a derogatory term for Black people.
“Stalk Jewish parks,” read one of the list’s entries, the report alleged.
After winning reelection on November 5, Moskowitz expressed gratitude to law enforcement for their efforts on the matter. He remarked in a statement on November 8 that “we all have families we want to keep safe, regardless of our political affiliation or differences.”
“Lapinski was arrested on Nov. 2 and booked on suspicion of violating federal and state laws prohibiting felons from having guns, as well as the state-level allegation that he violated a court order banning him from having firearms,” according to Broward County, Florida, jail records.
According to the documents, Lapinski was under a U.S. Marshals Service hold and was being held without bail. There were no upcoming court dates mentioned.
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