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Boston Police arrest two armed suspects as they enter Pokemon World Championships

The Pokemon World Championships in Boston nearly turned violent, as two suspects that threatened to rain violence down on the event were caught by police before they attempted to enter the Hynes Convention Center.

Ozzie Mejia

August 23, 2015 12:35 PM

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The Pokemon World Championships in Boston were held this weekend, but the fun and festivities were very nearly halted in a tragic manner. Two suspects from Iowa had threatened to rain down violence on the event and had brought several guns from their home state of Iowa. Boston police caught wind of the plot and were able to stop the two men on Friday night, days before they attempted to enter the Hynes Convention Center.

Accoring to the Boston FOX affiliate, the two suspects had issued their threats through social media. Police were notified of the threats on Thursday and were on the lookout for the two throughout the weekend. Upon searching their vehicle, authorities recovered a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and a hunting knife. The story has been updated to identity the suspects, 18-year-old Kevin Norton and 27-year-old James Stumbo, both of whom were set to compete on Saturday under the Masters Division for the Pokemon Trading Card Game.

These are the weapons that @bostonpolice found after plot to attack #PokemonWorlds. http://t.co/aGLlBYI7Jp #FOX25 pic.twitter.com/f827INspPX

— FOX 25 News Boston (@fox25news) August 23, 2015

Meanwhile, context continues to come in quickly. These tweets were taken on Thursday, showing Stumbo and Norton arming themselves for their trip. The Pokemon Worlds tournament organizers swiftly kicked the two out of the competition and it may very well be these posts that caught Boston PD's attention:

A known disgusting asshole of a TCG player just got kicked out of and banned at Worlds because of this: pic.twitter.com/xgd4qrDz2Y

— King of Cluckers (@faiarrow) August 21, 2015

The comments that followed were also very gross. It was classed as a terrorist act by Pokemon. pic.twitter.com/JsCE2IZsPw

— King of Cluckers (@faiarrow) August 21, 2015

The Pokemon Company issued the following statement to the FOX station in Boston:

"Prior to the event this weekend, our community of players made us aware of a security issue. We gathered information and gave it as soon as possible to the authorities at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center who acted swiftly and spearheaded communication with the Boston Police Department. Due to quick action, the potential threat was resolved. The Pokémon Company International takes the safety of our fans seriously and will continue to ensure proper security measures are a priority."

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?