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Man arrested in Las Vegas after threat to ‘slaughter’ Buffalo mayor, family

A 33-year-old North Carolina man was arrested outside of a Strip hotel in connection with threats made against various targets in the Buffalo, New York, area including the city’s mayor and his family, federal authorities said.

Daniel Parson, 33, of Charlotte, North Carolina called the Buffalo Police Department three times on May 3, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.

In the first call, made early on May 3 in Buffalo, Parson said she was going to “shoot up” a “fellowship church” on May 7, a criminal complaint filed by an FBI special agent alleges.

Later that morning, Parson allegedly called police and said he would “slaughter Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Brown’s family” that afternoon.

Parson then called police again and allegedly said he would carry out a mass shooting at an unspecified Tops grocery store. In May 2022, a mass shooter killed 10 people, all of them Black, at a Tops in Buffalo.

There was no mention in the court filings about whether the 2022 Tops shooting had anything to do with Parson’s alleged threats.

After determining the caller was Parson and that he was using his phone in Las Vegas, law enforcement officers “located and encountered” Parson outside Harrah’s on May 3 at 3 p.m., the complaint states. He was taken into custody.

In a detention hearing on May 5, Parson was ordered held. He will be transferred to Buffalo in the future.

Parson faces a federal count of making threats affecting interstate commerce. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.

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