PALM BEACH — A Loxahatchee man faces multiple charges, including threatening a mass shooting and impersonating law enforcement, deputies said.
Damien Allen, 22, was arrested Tuesday night after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said he was potentially planning an attack and had engaged in threatening communications through online platforms.
Loxahatchee Acreage
Local man 'set up for war' accused of threatening mass shootings
WPTV reporter Michael Hoffman, spoke with Lauren Mosos, a former classmate of Allen. Mosos say she’s shocked, but not surprised.
Mosos recalls Allen was part of the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program in high school and would frequently want to discuss guns.
WATCH: WPTV speaks to former classmate of Damien Allen
“I soon realized he wasn't normal,” Mosos said. “He would always talk about guns, and he was in JROTC, and he would just constantly talk about those things. And when I would try to sway the conversation to any other topic, that wouldn't work.”
Investigators say when they arrested Allen, in his home, they found:
- 18 firearms that included assault rifles and handguns
- 1 Taser
- Over 12,000 rounds of ammunition
- 15 Airsoft guns
- Two-way radio
- Law enforcement-issued police laptop
- An assortment of law enforcement, military, FBI, Army Ranger and Marine uniforms
- Ballistic vest and helmets
- Law enforcement credentials
- Active-duty Army credentials
- FBI credentials
- Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office badges
- 3-D printed body camera
- Self-made Army-training certificate
- Material with Nazi insignia
Mosos says that some of the paraphernalia seen in images is similar to what she’s seen from him before.
“He started showing me some weapons around the house, what he intended to buy stuff like that,” Mosos said. “He tried to confront me at school. I didn't really want to confront him, so I kind of just stayed away the best that I could. That's when I went ahead and went to my vice principal and let them know about it.”
She says she got the alert from the WPTV newsroom on Instagram, about the arrest, and didn’t think much of it— until she saw Allen’s face.
“As soon as I saw his face, I was like, okay, this makes so much sense,” Mosos said. “I’m glad they finally got to this guy.”
She says she’s happy she spoke up in high school, but wishes more had been done sooner.
“I just knew it wasn’t normal to begin with, and honestly, it would weigh on my conscience, if I hadn't told anybody, and God forbid, something had happened later on, a couple of years ago. I just chose to speak up, just in case,” Mosos said. “He could have been dealt with earlier on, when this was happening, and not today, where he had 10 times more of what he had in high school.”
Allen is being held at the Palm Beach County jail without bond.
