Former Officer Held for Alleged Festival Mass Shooting Plot

A former North Carolina police officer is in custody after authorities say he planned a mass shooting targeting Black people at a major New Orleans music festival. The suspect, Christopher Gillum, was arrested Wednesday night in the city on charges of making terroristic threats.

Police recovered a handgun and roughly 200 rounds of ammunition from his hotel room. Gillum served as a sworn officer in Chapel Hill from 2004 to 2019 and later worked as a detention officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina from 2023 to 2025. Authorities have not publicly confirmed which event he was targeting, though the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival begins this weekend, drawing tens of thousands of attendees daily.

The arrest raises serious questions about how someone with a law enforcement background could plan an attack rooted in racial hatred. It also puts a spotlight on security protocols at large-scale festivals, where the sheer volume of people makes threat detection difficult. For now, the festival continues as scheduled, but the incident hangs over an event built around music and community.