Judge returns guns taken by Redmond police

Police were concerned over man’s ‘violent’ posts.

A man returned to the Redmond Police Department (RPD) this week to collect the guns taken from him after police raised concerns about his online posts that showed the man posing with AK-47-type weapons, according to Andrea Wolf-Buck, spokesperson for RPD.

On Nov. 20, the 23-year-old man recollected his three handguns, three long guns and various magazines and other rifle parts after a judge denied an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) filed by RPD.

The department asked the judge to remove the man’s guns for a year after it was alerted to social media posts discovered by the Seattle Police Department’s criminal intelligence unit. A number of these posts included violent language toward women. A September 2017 post read “Kill all women.” And others found by police had similar language.

But one of the most concerning posts was one that displayed the man holding two AK-47-type weapons, with the words “One ticket for joker please.” During the time, the U.S. Army issued a warning about a mass-shooting potential at “Joker” movie showings.

The Reporter attempted to reach out to the Redmond man’s lawyer, but did not receive a response before its print deadline. According to the New York Times, the man told the judge his posts were a joke.

The ERPO was the sixth filed by RPD, Wolf-Buck said. Of those filed, at least two were upheld. The orders are meant to prevent those determined to be at risk from harming themselves or others.