Punta Gorda man sentenced to 2 years for mass shooting threat

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Photo of the suspect, Thomas McVicker, 30, who planned to commit a mass shooting at a Memphis church on Aug. 22. (Credit: anonymous friend of the suspect)
Thomas McVicker (Credit: anonymous friend of the suspect)

A Punta Gorda man was sentenced to two years in prison for threatening a mass shooting in 2019.

Thomas McVicker told a friend he was going to “shoot up” a church in Memphis, and investigators said when they arrested him in Indianapolis nearly a year ago, he had a Ruger 9mm semi-automatic handgun, five 9mm magazines (one loaded), one magazine assist loader, and two full boxes of 50 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

McVicker, 39, told authorities that he has a history of mental health issues.

He pleaded guilty in April to interstate transmission of threat to injure.

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