Atlanta’s police chief praised the family of Billy Joe Cagle for turning him in for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, saying, “They saved lives.”
The 49-year-old from Cartersville, Georgia, was arrested on Monday morning after authorities found him inside the world’s busiest airport, thanks to a tip from family members.
“That has to be a very difficult decision,” Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum told reporters on Tuesday of Cagle’s family alerting police, adding, “They saved their family member’s life yesterday.”
Police said they found an AR-15 assault rifle and 27 rounds of ammunition inside Cagle’s white Chevrolet pickup truck parked outside the airport.
Earlier that morning, Cagle was on a FaceTime call, threatening to “shoot up the airport,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announcing federal charges against him.
“I’m at the airport, and I’m gonna go rat-a-tat-tat,” Cagle said while driving before he abruptly hung up, federal prosecutors said. The person on the other end of the phone then alerted the Cartersville Police Department.
Bartow County dispatchers were heard warning Atlanta Police at the airport of the situation in audio recordings obtained by Fox 5 Atlanta: “We had a call from our city about a male headed to the airport, threatening to shoot up the airport.”
Atlanta Police Department Sergeant Tywana Jones was on the phone with Cartersville police and Cagle’s family, trying to figure out what he was wearing to help authorities track him down.
“I went on to ask, ‘What was he wearing?’ And they told me he was wearing a blue polo. And I asked, ‘Was it a long-sleeve polo or a short-sleeve polo? And they were able to let us know that, again, it was a short-sleeve polo,” Jones said.
Officer Myesha Banks, who arrested Cagle, explained how that information proved vital in the search for Cagle.
“Once the description came over of the shirt that he was wearing, the blue polo stripe shirt, that’s when I was able to identify him,” she said.
Body camera footage of the arrest showed Cagle wailing as he was pinned to the ground and handcuffed.
Cagle faces state charges of terroristic threats, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, criminal attempt to commit aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
He also faces federal charges of attempted violence at an international airport, interstate communications containing threats to injure the person of another and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
It’s unclear whether Cagle has an attorney.
He was convicted of a felony in 2000 for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, per NBC News.
NBC News reported Cagle’s wife, Tiffany Beck Cagle, filed for divorce Tuesday, accusing her husband of “cruel treatment” and “habitual drug addiction.”
