Conditions of release modified for Norwalk man who allegedly had interest in mass shootings

The Norwalk man who police say "showed interest" in mass shootings was back in court Friday on charges of illegal possession of high-capacity magazines.

News 12 Staff

Sep 20, 2019, 12:29 PM

Updated 1,841 days ago

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The Norwalk man who police say "showed interest" in mass shootings was back in court Friday on charges of illegal possession of high-capacity magazines.
The judge agreed to slightly modify the conditions of Brandon Wagshol's release. Wagshol, 22, will only have to check in with probation at the courthouse once a week rather than every day. He's been under house arrest at his father's apartment and monitored by GPS since posting $250,000 bond three weeks ago.
The Central Connecticut State University student was arrested last month after the FBI received a tip from one of his relatives that he was trying to purchase large-capacity magazines from out of state.
Police then raided his home on Bedford Avenue after finding what they called alarming social media posts about mass shootings. Wagshol's arrest warrant says that interest dated as far back as middle school when he allegedly threatened to shoot another student and said, "I'll make Virginia Tech look like nothing."
Two years later, police investigated Wagshol again after complaints about his Facebook page. They say it showed pictures of two machine guns. Also, under his activities and interests, he listed “PLANNING A MASS MURDER!!!" and "I'M GENOCIDAL.”

When police took Wagshol into custody, they say he admitted to driving to New Hampshire to buy large-capacity magazines, which are illegal in Connecticut. According to the arrest warrant, Wagshol said he did it to circumvent what he saw as an "unconstitutional restriction" on the Second Amendment.
Darnell Crosland, Wagshol’s attorney, says his client “never had any intent to cause any mass shooting or to harm anybody.”
“He's been an avid sportsman with his dad and so anything he purchased was definitely for that purpose only,” says Crosland.
When Wagshol was arrested, CCSU suspended him and banned him from campus. Crosland told the court that Wagshol has the support of the school's dean of students to take classes online. That can only happen if he gets back his computer, which was seized by police during their raid.
The judge will take that issue up at the next hearing Oct. 4.