A professional boxer who once competed in the Olympics is facing charges after authorities said he bought an AK-47 and planned a mass shooting at a Miami gym.
Azea Augustama, known as the “Haitian Hitman,” was arrested and booked into the Miami-Dade jail earlier this week on two counts of making written threats to commit a mass shooting and one count of making a written threat to kill or cause bodily injury, according to the Miami Herald. The report says he was in the process of purchasing an AK-47 assault rifle just hours after making blatant threats on social media.
It was just earlier this month when Augustama reportedly had his membership at a Miami gym revoked and was issued a trespass warning after getting into an argument with someone at the gym. That was clearly the catalyst for his actions soon afterward.
He would take to Instagram and begin stating he was considering shooting up the place, and even started posting pictures of specific people he would target. Police said he posted a picture of the Parkland school shooter to his Instagram account, with a caption threatening to shoot a number of people, including one person he said accused him of “touch(ing) a girl,” as well as the gym itself.
Police said he then sent a photo to someone of the person he got into an argument with at the gym, saying “he’s first when I get my gun or with something else first. (RIP)”
Video would soon show him place a deposit on the AK-47 at a pawn shop when he was picked up by police.
The owner of BOXR Gym, Mario Attalla, shed more light on the incident:
“I think it was just a small incident inside the gym where he was just being very rude to one of the trainers that work(s) here and the trainer basically said to him ‘Look, I’ve got a class running, we’ve got people here, I just need you to finish up your training,’” Attalla said. “He got a little bit upset and aggressive, so we had to pull him aside and say ‘Look, you can’t be talking to people like this,’ and he basically just got angry.”
Attalla said he told Augustama “I can’t have you here” and said he had to revoke his membership, but promised to give the former pro boxer his money back.
Augustama was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Judge Mindy Glazer ordered him to stay away from the alleged victims and the gym, as well as another gym mentioned in his Instagram post.
She also imposed a $3 million total bond and strict, “total lockdown” house arrest requirements if he were to post bond.
The general public would love if this guy never posts bail.
