Law enforcement at Palm Beach International Airport stopped a heavily armed convicted felon in his tracks early Thursday morning, before he could unleash what authorities believe might have been a deadly attack.
At around 7:10 a.m., airport operations staff alerted Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies to a suspicious man loitering outside a dark-colored vehicle in a restricted airport parking area, the Miami Herald reported.
The man, later identified as 41-year-old Michael Rodrigues, was spotted casually standing outside the car getting dressed.
Deputies approached the vehicle, which turned out to be a rental. As they retrieved the rental agreement from the glove compartment, they were met with a chilling discovery, a fully loaded AR-15 magazine.
The search intensified, and under a blanket on the seat, deputies found the real threat: a fully loaded AR-15 rifle along with multiple knives.
Rodrigues was taken into custody without incident, but the find paints a disturbing picture of what could have happened had airport staff not acted quickly.
More from Miami Herald:
Rodrigues is a convicted felon and has faced a litany of criminal charges in cases dating as far back as 2006. He was recently arrested in April for strangling the mother of his child unconscious, according to Palm Beach County court records.
She later filed a petition for an injunction against him, which she has done in the past.
In 2021, Rodrigues had slammed another woman’s head, his girlfriend at the time, against a door – causing blood to come from her ears, court records show. She escaped to her neighbor’s home in Palm Beach Gardens. He was placed on a year of probation.
He was also found guilty of beating the same woman in 2020 outside Fosters Shak, a bar in West Palm Beach, for which he was sentenced to about a year in jail.
From 2014 to 2024, he has faced charges of burglary, grand theft, battery, dealing in olen property and drug possession. However, they were all dropped by prosecutors.
In 2011, he was sentenced to 18 months of probation for trying to speed away from Boynton Beach police while reckless driving a year prior.
The FBI is now involved in the case. Rodrigues is facing both state and federal charges, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and trespassing in a secure airport zone.
According to the complaint, on August 5, Rodrigues parked a rental car in an employee lot at Palm Beach International Airport, where it remained for approximately two hours. During that time, Rodrigues was seen entering and exiting the car multiple times. At one point, Rodrigues walked toward the airport gates carrying a large black case and returned to the car around 7:00 am, still in possession of the case.
Deputies from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office made contact with Rodrigues and observed a set of throwing knives inside the case. A database check revealed that the car had been rented, and Rodrigues stated that his father had rented it. Rodrigues authorized deputies to search the car for the rental agreement. Inside the glove compartment, deputies found a loaded magazine. Next to the glove compartment, concealed under a towel, they found a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P-15 rifle along with two additional magazines.
Rodrigues has prior felony convictions in Martin County, Florida. On June 20, 2022, Rodrigues was convicted in Martin County, Florida of Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle and Introduction of Contraband into a Correctional Facility—both felony offenses under Florida law.
United States Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office, and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.
FBI Miami and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case.
The post Possible Mass Shooting Foiled at Palm Beach International Airport — Armed Felon with Loaded AR-15 and Knives Arrested in Restricted Zone — FBI Now Investigating appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.