Suspect in foiled Texas State Capitol attack facing federal charge
Attack on the Texas Capitol foiled by law enforcement
A man arrested for plotting an attack at the Texas State Capitol is now facing a federal charge. This comes after Texas DPS searched Benny Caldera Junior’s home.
BEXAR COUNTY, Texas - A Bexar County man arrested for plotting an attack at the Texas State Capitol is now facing a federal charge.
This comes after Texas DPS searched Benny Caldera Junior’s Converse-area home.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Suspect in planned attack on Texas State Capitol now in federal custody: DPS
Timeline:
Court documents stated the attack was supposed to happen Thursday, but it was stopped by Texas DPS and the FBI.
A warning from someone who knew Caldera set this investigation in motion. That person alerted law enforcement to what investigators said was a plan to attack the Texas State Capitol.
The criminal complaint said Caldera told a friend on Tuesday, "I am going to the Capitol and I am going to shoot it up," said he was angry at the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, also known as AIPAC, and said "these people have to be exterminated".
Benny Caldera Jr (Bexar County Sheriff's Office)
Texas DPS said its criminal investigations division worked through the night with the FBI and local law enforcement and SWAT eventually arrested Caldera early Wednesday morning at his home in Converse, near San Antonio.
Texas DPS said they then searched Caldera’s home and found a loaded shotgun and a loaded revolver with a serial number filed off, which is a federal offense. Caldera now faces up to five years in federal prison.
Caldera remains in federal custody.
The State Capitol is open and Texas DPS has said it increased security.
Former FBI crisis management coordinator speaks on arrest
What they're saying:
"Moving quickly, once you have a threat of life, especially one that could be a public threat of life, you have to just move because that person, obviously with one minute response time, he can hurt very many people, so that's why we want to be ahead of it," former FBI crisis management coordinator and certified focal point business leadership coach Eric Wojtkun said.
Wojtkun said the response can quickly escalate.
"You can go, depending on how severe the case is and how much gets validated as you move, you could be moving from one or two people working on it to suddenly you could have squads in multiple divisions of 10, 15, 20, 100 people, depending how big it is and that can happen overnight," Wojtkun said.
Wojtkun said this case shows why reporting a threat can be so important.
"This is why San Antonio has a crisis management team deploying up there, that's why we have this joint terror task forces nationwide. They're all designed so that every level of government has the opportunity to plug into these investigations from the get-go and protect the American public faster," Wojtkun said.
The Source: Information in this report comes from court documents, the Texas Department of Public Safety and an interview with former FBI crisis management coordinator Eric Wojtkun