LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A California man was arrested on Saturday, Sept. 24 after making terroristic threats against employees at a Chase Bank near Arroyo Crossing.
Employees told police the man said, “I don’t want to take you down” and “you think the October 1 massacre was bad wait until you see what I will do, I will blow this place up.”
According to an arrest report, Ashton Aspley, 24, of Palm Springs, was arrested on Saturday, Sept. 24, at a Chase Bank near Arroyo Crossing Parkway and Rainbow Boulevard. After he entered the bank with a black plastic bag covering his hand and wrist, he became aggressive and threatening to citizens and employees.
A bank manager told police, Aspley had been causing problems at the bank for two days because he believed his money was stolen. According to reports, the day before his arrest he was trespassed from the bank for “acting aggressive and hostile.”
The arrest report said employees also learned that Aspley had posted photos of himself holding a firearm in what appeared to be the bank’s parking lot with the captions, “no joking” and “I’m not kidding.”
The disruption caused the entire bank to close one day and post an armed guard at the entrance of the location.
The report said the security guard approached Aspley in the parking lot and noticed he had a handgun on his front seat. Aspley told the guard he would “shoot this place up” before he entered the bank with the black bag over his hand.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police arrived at the bank and took him into custody.
When police questioned Aspley, the report said he told them he was a filmmaker and writer and traveling off the grid and he was upset because the bank stole $20,000 from him. He told police he wanted to use to buy a ring for his girlfriend in Italy and that he carried a prop gun as protection from the Cartel.
The interview ended when Aspley became erratic, police said.
The report said the gun in Aspley’s possession was a pneumatic firearm containing a blank cartridge.
Aspley faces a felony charge of making a threat to commit an act of terrorism. He is scheduled to have a competency hearing. His next court date is Oct. 21, 2022.
