Former North Carolina Officer Arrested for Alleged Shooting Plot in New Orleans
A former police officer from North Carolina has been taken into custody in Florida, accused of planning a shooting at a music festival in New Orleans. Christopher Gillum, 45, who previously lived in Chapel Hill, was arrested Wednesday evening at a hotel in Destin, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities indicated that Gillum was wanted on charges related to “terrorist threats” and was suspected of heading to the festival to carry out a mass shooting. Law enforcement officials recovered a handgun and around 200 rounds of ammunition from his hotel room.
Interestingly, Gillum’s family had reported him missing just a day prior, mentioning his struggles with self-harm and previous threats against “black people,” as noted in a bulletin from Burlington, North Carolina police. Lt. Clint Lyons from the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office explained that Gillum had left North Carolina before any legal basis for involuntary detention could be established.
Gillum was initially stopped by local law enforcement earlier that Wednesday but was released due to insufficient grounds for arrest, according to reports.
Following surveillance and an investigation, officers arrested him based on a warrant from Louisiana. He is expected to be extradited to face charges there. While the specific event targeted remains unnamed, it’s noteworthy that the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, or JazzFest, is currently running and attracts a large crowd each year. However, Louisiana State Police have stated that there is “no known direct threat” to any festivals in the area.
Gillum had previously served as a police officer in Chapel Hill from 2004 until his resignation in 2019. After that, he worked at Carolina Beach for about a year before transitioning to a detention officer role in Orange County, North Carolina, which he held until July 2024. He returned to the Chapel Hill Police as a non-sworn employee briefly before retiring again. In January 2025, he was rehired as a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office but resigned later that year.
