A man was arrested on Sunday at the Hyatt Regency Houston on Louisiana Street in advance of a New Years party expected to draw 2000.
- He was apparently just holding onto the weapons in his room for safe keeping so they wouldn’t be stolen out of his truck.
- But he was drunk early Sunday morning and harassing guests in the lobby. Security kicked him out, but he returned. And then he “struggled with the officer to the point of assaulting him.” Which strikes me as the sort of person you don’t want carrying (legal) firearms.
Hyatt Regency Houston, credit: Hyatt
The hotel decided to kick him off the property. An officer escorted him up to his suite on the top floor of the hotel to pack his bags, where he saw “several guns inside the guest’s baggage…an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, a handgun ‘and many rounds of ammunition.'”
He’ll be charged with assaulting a police officer, and possibly criminal trespass. He is not facing weapons charges. Apparently he didn’t break weapons laws on New Years Eve though he had been arrested on weapons charged December 23rd.
The man has disabled veterans license plates on his truck which was also carrying a crossbow. His wife says he suffers from PTSD.
Here’s the Hyatt Regency Houston’s statement on the incident,
The safety and security of our guests and colleagues is our top priority, and we are fully cooperating with authorities on an ongoing investigation after an individual was taken into their custody this morning. Please be assured that heightened security measures are in place and will continue through the hotel’s New Year’s Eve celebration this evening. Further questions should be directed to law enforcement.
Hyatt Regency Houston Valet Parking Purgatory
I do not see post-Las Vegas as necessitating heightened hotel security (such as eliminating ‘do not disturb’ signs), that particular threat (though the outcome was horrible) is historically an outlier. And indeed no extra security measures were needed in this case it was just an obnoxious drunk guest who was tossed from the property.
But Las Vegas happened. Bringing a cache of guns onto the top floor of a busy hotel on New Year’s Eve while drunk and calling attention to yourself is simply not a good strategy for anyone.
Interesting article. Definitely more than a small arsenal in my opinion. I was in Vegas for NYE last night and I have never seen so much security, checkpoints, national gaurd, police officers. They did a great job organizing everything
You should stick with writing articles about miles, points and frequent business travel. Your spreading misinformation abd opinion about legal matters that you don’t have all the correct information about.
Three weapons = a small arsenal? Fake news.
3 weapons in a hotel room don’t equal an “arsenal” in my opinion. It is VERY common for guns to be stolen from vehicles at hotels. Criminals target vehicles and trailers at events that draw people who own and transport guns. For example gun shows, outdoor sporting events, etc. I would much rather see these in a hotel room than stolen and used on the streets by criminals however I’m not sure a hotel room as all that safe since apparently hotels are going to search it no matter what you do.
“an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, a handgun” is not an arsenal. that’s just a basic starter set.
Come on Gary, small arsenal? I was expecting 5+ rifles, multiple handguns, and 1000s of rounds of ammo. Even then many people have much more than that at home that they’ve collected over the years.