church shooting prevented

[cheka.]

this event in same area of the previous church shooting

http://seguingazette.com/alert/article_e1acac4c-0c4a-11e9-a607-1b0e7025ee6b.html

Seguin police are crediting an observant witness and quick police action for stopping a potentially deadly event.

A witness reported seeing a man carrying a gun about 7 a.m. on Sunday in the 2400 block of West Kingsbury Street, Seguin Police spokesperson Tanya Brown said in a news release.

An off-duty SPD officer was the first on the scene and "observed an oddly dressed male wearing tactical style clothing, a surgical face shield, carrying a loaded firearm and extra ammunition,” she said.

Officers made contact with the man, who was later identified as 33-year-old Tony Albert. He reportedly told officers he was on his way to a church to “fulfill ... a prophecy,” Brown said.

Albert was taken to the Guadalupe County Jail for possession of marijuana and felony possession of a firearm.

“This morning, the Seguin Police Department is extremely grateful to the citizen who called police,” Brown said. “If this subject was not stopped and apprehended the results could have ended differently.”

The incident remains under investigation.

https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/tony-albert-seguin-texas-1.jpg?quality=65&strip=all

[osoab]

So a real event or another FF averted?

[cheka.]

and it has the ever-present connections to nyc-dc. it lives in houston (2 hour drive from the church). low bond - 10k and he's out. what is the patriot act for?

https://heavy.com/news/2018/12/tony-albert/

A former Marine from Texas with a lengthy felony criminal record was armed with a gun, carrying extra ammunition and wearing tactical gear when he was arrested early Sunday morning while he was on his way to a church to “fulfill what he called a prophecy,” the Seguin Police Department said in a press release.

Officers arrested Tony Albert, a 33-year-old Houston resident....

Albert Thought He Was in Another City & Asked a Restaurant Worker, Who Later Tipped Off Police, Where the Nearest Baptist Church Was While ‘Gripping His Gun,’ She Says

“I don’t know what ties he has in Seguin or why he’s here but he is not from Seguin. My understanding is that he thought he was in a different city,” she told reporters. She declined to say what city he thought he was in because of the ongoing investigation.

Brianna Jimenez, an 18-year-old worker at Las Mañanitas restaurant in Seguin, told The New York Times that Albert came into the restaurant wearing sunglasses about 6:30 a.m. She said she went to greet him, but he waved her off and went into the bathroom for about 30 minutes. Jimenez told The Times she forgot he was in the bathroom until he came out carrying a backpack and came up to her with a question.

“He asks me ‘Do you know where the nearest Baptist church is at?'” Jimenez told The Times. She said she and her mother pointed him to a church down the road, but he told them he had been to that church and asked for the next nearest one.

Her mother, Gabriela Jimenez, said Albert came out of the bathroom again wearing a surgical mask that covered his mouth. She then saw he had a gun. “He had it in his hand the whole time. The way he was standing he had it in his right hand and you could not see it until he turned around to walk away,” she told the newspaper. “He seemed calm. He did not give us any attitude.” Jimenez said he twice asked his daughter for a ride to the second church, but she declined. She said when Albert left the restaurant he was “gripping the gun.”

The mother and daughter then locked the doors and hid with other restaurant workers in the kitchen while calling police, according to The Times.

Albert, a Houston native who graduated from Alief Elsik High School, was first arrested in 1997 when he was only 12, online court records show. Albert was charged as an adult with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He admitted to the crime in 1998, but was given a deferred adjudication of guilt, meaning the case would be removed from his record if he completed a probation program.

Records show that Albert was not arrested again until 2009. He was charged on June 19, 2009, with driving while intoxicated first offense. He pleaded guilty in 2010 and was given probation. In 2014, he was charged with possession of marijuana and pleaded no contest a year later. He was given probation, a fine and credit for three days he served in jail after his arrest. Albert was arrested in October 2016 by the Houston Police Department on charges of disarming a police officer, a state jail felony, resisting arrest and evading. He was put on a two-year probation program earlier this year as part of that case.

In March 2017, Albert was charged with assault causing bodily injury against a family member. He spent 80 days in jail after pleading guilty. All of the cases occurred in Harris County, Texas, and on at least one occasion, Albert participated in Harris County’s veterans’ court, which is a diversionary program aimed to help provide access to mental health and addictions treatments for veterans arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges. The program aims to divert vets into VA treatment, reducing jail time, costs and criminal recidivism, while improving mental health recovery and successful re-entry into the community, according to the court website.

Albert is currently on probation until 2019, with community supervision rules that include refraining from committing any criminal offenses in the U.S. and prohibiting him from leaving Harris County without prior approval. He must also report any new arrests to Harris County authorities within 24 hours. Details of the criminal cases that led to his previous arrests were not immediately available.

In court documents, Albert talked about his religious beliefs, according to KSAT-TV. He wrote in 2018 that he was affiliated with Messianic Judaism and the “First Church of Cannabis.” Messianic Judaism combines Christian and Jewish beliefs. He argued in the court filing that he used marijuana as a “sacrament” as part of the church, the news station reports.

Tony Albert II served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2008 after graduating from high school in Houston in 2003, according to his Linkedin profile. Albert was a Marine Embassy Guard and a sergeant/administrative clerk, he wrote on Linkedin. In his role as an embassy guard, Albert said he provided 24-hour armed internal security as a Marine Security Guard to U.S. embassies in Cairo, Egypt; Baghdad, Iraq; Bogota, Colombia; and Quito, Ecuador. He said he had top secret security clearance in that role.

“Experience in overseas protection of diplomatic and top ranking officials, internal/external perimeter security, weapons handling and leadership. Extensive experience serving in combat situations including high levels of stress and fatigue due to prolonged exposure to rockets, mortars, sniper fire and other personal safety hazards,” he wrote on Linkedin. “Control immediate security, including entry and exit and direction of personnel, of secure buildings in the event of an emergency situations.”

In 2010, a former U.S. State Department employee wrote a recommendation for Albert on Linkedin:

It gives me great pleasure to write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Tony Albert. I had the honor of working with Mr. Albert for several months while stationed at the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. His good work ethic and compassionate nature has led me to continue correspondence with him over the past few years. I think very highly of Mr. Albert and I believe he has the skills and drive to excel to great heights.

Mr. Albert is a creative and original thinker. He has native intelligence, great curiosity about people and ideas, and plenty of common sense that he has applied to his position with the US Marine Corp. In addition, he has demonstrated excellent powers of observation, and an ability to communicate and suggest change in an effective but non-threatening way.

Mr. Albert is an intelligent, capable and personable young man. He is always quick on his feet, with sensible reactions in all circumstance I have seen him in. I feel confident in saying that he is capable of handling any situation with thoughtfulness and maturity.

Officials for the Marine Corps did not immediately respond to requests from Heavy for additional details about Albert’s service.

After leaving the Marines, Albert worked as a security officer at the Houston school district from August 2008 to January 2011, according to his Linkedin profile. He said he, “Initiated and assisted with felony investigations to recover stolen school property. … Liaised with local police department to provide a safe and crime free environment. … Protected students and faculty from potential threats. … Create and maintain file of incident reports for transmittal to higher authority.”

Albert also said he coordinated emergency training drills and was a “positive role model for the youth.” While working as the school security guard, Albert said he was also a full-time student at University of Houston-Downtown, where he completed a bachelor degree in criminal justice in 2010. He then received a master’s degree in business administration and global business management from the University of Houston-Victoria in 2014, according to his Linkedin profile. The Houston ISD could not immediately be reached for comment about Albert’s time working for the district.

In 2010, he began working as a logistics coordinator at an endoscopy company and was later a program manager for QR1 quote systems, his Linkedin profile says. He also worked briefly in sales for a marketing company in 2015. In 2014, he founded a company called A-n-D LLC, which he described as “A small business consulting firm dedicated to driving efficiencies and building revenue in the small-to-medium sized business sector in the Greater Houston area. Dedicated to start-ups and mid-scale expansions alike, our determination is to get your business to a level of operations that demonstrates who and what you desire it to be.”

As part of that business, Albert launched a Kickstarter in 2015 for an Angels-n_Demons food truck.

When Trump was elected in 2016, Albert tweeted at him, “Never thought I’d be happier to call this great nation home!”

Albert Is Being Held at the Guadalupe County Jail on $100,000 Bail as the Investigation Into the Incident Continues

The Seguin Police Department said its investigation into the incident is ongoing. The FBI, ATF and the Texas Rangers are joining the investigation along with the local police department, Officer Tanya Brown said.