Suspect says there was no plot to shoot All-Star Game fans

One of the suspects arrested in Denver following the discovery of more than a dozen guns in a hotel room over the weekend said there was no intention of harming anyone, despite concerns that a “Las Vegas-style shooting” could have occurred at the MLB All-Star Game this week.

Speaking to the local CBS affiliate, Ricardo Rodriguez, who was arrested on charges of possession of a weapon by a previous offender, said Richard Platt, who was holding the weapons in his room, did not intend on using them.

Rodriguez was arrested along with Platt, Gabriel Rodriguez and Kanoelehua Serikawa after 16 guns, over a thousand rounds of ammunition and body armor were discovered in a hotel room following a report from a maid at the hotel.

#NEW – Suspect in hotel incident says friend had sniper rifles in room near #coorsfield but says there was no plan to harm #MLBallstargame #MLB fans. Exclusive interview with @CBSDenver :https://t.co/K24xavDQp2 pic.twitter.com/njRRP7KMa5

— Brian Maass (@Briancbs4) July 12, 2021

“He had a lot of guns, he did,” Ricardo Rodriguez told the outlet via a video feed from the Denver jail. “I don’t know what his intentions were, from my understanding selling them and trading them. That was about it.”

Platt and Gabriel Rodriguez were also charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to Denver7.

Ricardo Rodriguez said he met Platt for the first time through a mutual friend when he arrived in Colorado last Thursday. Platt recommended that they stay at the Maven Hotel, which Rodriguez said he liked because of its proximity to the All-Star Game.

Ricardo Rodriguez, who designs and donates guns to military veterans, acknowledged that he was armed with a 9mm pistol and also had an AR-15 in his own hotel room, CBS4 reports. When he went to Platt’s room, he said he saw there was a load of weapons.

“I just saw a lot of firearms which kind of concerned me,” he told the outlet. “They had a sniper rifle, probably two of them, two or three mid-sized assault rifles, AK-47s, another short entry weapon, to the average person it’s a TEC-9, like an Uzi, numerous firearms.”

Ricardo Rodriguez added that he had no knowledge of any plans from Platt to commit mass violence with the weapons, having been told that he planned on trading them with his friends.

“If he would have actively mentioned something like that, if he would have said something like that, no way I would have let anything like that happen. I can tell you if I would have saw something like that, seen him preparing for something like that I would have intervened. No way I would have let something like that happen,” he said.

CBS4 reported that the FBI released a statement on Sunday saying it did not believe the suspects posed a threat to baseball fans or had any connections to terrorism. The suspects are due in court on Monday.