Melissa Potter was standing in her kitchen when the call came in. It was her estranged nephew, Brandon Wagshol, and she was surprised 鈥� he鈥檇 never called her before.
鈥淲hen I saw his name on the caller ID, I got worried that maybe something horrible had happened,鈥� Potter said. 鈥淥r, you know, maybe something was going on with the family that he needed to tell me about. So I picked up the phone.鈥�
Wagshol didn鈥檛 say hello. Instead, he told his aunt that he was building an AR-15-style rifle and that he wanted to use her address so he could ship high-capacity magazines to her home in New Hampshire. But in Connecticut, where he lives, magazines holding more than ten rounds became illegal to purchase, sell or transfer in 2013.
鈥淚 was trying to think of ways to discourage him because I knew this was not a good idea,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y heart was racing because I knew what he was asking me just sounded very suspicious.鈥�
Her nephew鈥檚 call came just days after the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas. Potter stayed on the phone with him, then 鈥� the call cut off.
鈥淚 was thinking about the mass shootings that have taken place where you see it on the news and read the stories that they have these high-capacity magazines,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen they intend to kill a lot of people they come in with a lot of ammunition ready to kill.鈥�
She stood at her kitchen counter, shaken.
Raising A 鈥楻ed Flag鈥�
In the weeks following the shocking mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, the public searched for answers , or Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), which allow police to seize firearms from a person deemed to be a risk to themselves or others, could be a valuable tool for police.
Research on the use of ERPOs is limited because they are relatively new policy measures. However, data from law enforcement agencies in states that have these laws indicate they are most often used to prevent suicides. A 2018 found that ERPOs in Connecticut and Indiana were associated with a 13.7% and 7.5% drop in suicides in those states ten years after the law was implemented.
There remains very little research about how these laws impact homicides or mass shootings. One exception is a 2019 published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which identified more than 20 cases where California鈥檚 鈥渞ed flag鈥� law was used to stop a mass shooting from 2016-2018.
Connecticut has had ERPOs on the books since 1999. One of its key tenets: A risk warrant has to be substantiated by evidence and an investigation.
Law enforcement in Connecticut also saw a jump in risk warrant usage in 2018, something they attributed to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that year. There were 268 risk warrants filed in 2018, compared to 178 in 2017.
The concerns Melissa Potter shared after that phone call ultimately led police to use a risk warrant, which is an element of Connecticut鈥檚 鈥渞ed flag鈥� law, and to her nephew鈥檚 door.
A Troubled Childhood
Over the years, Melissa Potter said Wagshol had become the family member known for what she called 鈥渂ad behavior鈥� that often made the family uncomfortable. Sometimes, the family would try to invite only his mother to gatherings. Eventually, they stopped inviting them altogether 鈥� no weddings, no Thanksgivings, no anniversaries, no bar mitzvahs. It wasn鈥檛 an easy thing to do, but it was better than being uncomfortable.
After her nephew鈥檚 phone call, Potter found herself uncomfortable again, unsure of what to do next. She texted one of her daughters to tell her about it, then called her brother.
鈥淵ou really want to 鈥榥arc鈥� on your nephew?鈥� he asked.
Potter felt her sister, Brandon Wagshol鈥檚 mother, needed to know. She left a voicemail telling Joanne Kirson everything Wagshol had told her over the phone about building a gun, about the 30-round magazines, about how concerned she was. But she waited about a week before calling the Norwalk Police Department. Then, a few days later at her New Hampshire town鈥檚 police station, through bulletproof glass with a little hole in it, Potter told a local officer, 鈥淚 have a story to tell.鈥�
Top of mind was the phone call. But Potter felt police needed to know about her nephew鈥檚 鈥渉istory of behavior issues.鈥� There were the school suspensions, the physical altercations with his mother, the 鈥渟cary odd behavior.鈥� The officer said he would follow up with Norwalk police.
Melissa had told her wife Lee Ann Potter about Wagshol鈥檚 phone call. Lee Ann was concerned enough to submit a tip to the FBI鈥檚 National Threat Operations Center and follow it up with a call to confirm it had been received.
鈥淲ith all of the mass shootings, I mean, it became somewhat clear in my mind 鈥� this was not an idle thing,鈥� Lee Ann said. 鈥淭his was not one of those things to be taken lightly and you don鈥檛 want to have the death of a lot of people in this kind of a situation on your hands.鈥�
A few days later when the FBI called the Potters, Melissa told them even more about Wagshol than she had told police. He had been suspended for grabbing a girl鈥檚 bottom in second grade. He had talked about hacking into government databases at Thanksgiving. He had dumped trash into his mother鈥檚 car after a disagreement.
Melissa Potter holds an undated photo of her nephew, Brandon Wagshol from when he was a child.
Norwalk police say their investigation of Wagshol revealed much more, with documented incidents dating back to 2008. While in sixth grade that year, he told a classmate that he could make the mass shooting at Virginia Tech 鈥渓ook like nothing.鈥� There were the firearms catalogues that his mother couldn鈥檛 get to stop coming to their house in the months following the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012.
At one point, Wagshol listed 鈥淧LANNING MASS MURDER!!!鈥� as an activity on his Facebook profile and 鈥淚鈥橫 GENOCIDAL鈥� as an interest of his under 鈥渉obbies.鈥� Waghsol鈥檚 mother told police he had been expelled from high school after researching the cost of buying a handgun on a school computer. He had been committed to a psychiatric hospital against his will. All of these incidents were documented in a series of Norwalk police records.
Risk Warrants In Action
Wagshol鈥檚 history spurred police to apply for a risk warrant, which would allow them to search Wagshol鈥檚 residence and seize firearms and ammunition.
A risk warrant in Connecticut asks a judge to consider a couple of factors. They include things like making a recent threat, brandishing a firearm or prior involuntary medical confinement. According to the risk warrant filed for Wagshol, police checked three of the six criteria.
Police told a judge that Wagshol presented an imminent risk of injury to himself or others, based on 鈥渨ell-documented threats of mass shootings, genocide and overall obsession to violence.鈥� His 鈥減ursuit to obtain a high-capacity magazines for an 鈥楢R-15鈥� style rifle presents a clear and looming danger,鈥� police wrote in the application for the risk warrant.
That night, police say they found hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a pistol, a long rifle, a hand grenade and a receipt for body armor in the living room and bedrooms. While executing a search and seizure warrant, police found a titanium vest plate, camouflage clothing and a helmet. And in the car parked in Wagshol鈥檚 garage, officers say they found four 30-round magazines.
Wagshol was arrested using a traditional search and seizure warrant for criminal possession of the high-capacity magazines.
That discovery lead to Wagshol鈥檚 arrest. Lt. Terry Blake of the Norwalk Police Department was there that night and says the tips led to a successful investigation.
Though the guns were legally registered to Wagshol鈥檚 father, the police confiscated them under the terms of the risk warrant, because they were easily accessible.
鈥淲agshol did not commit that crime,鈥� Blake said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no telling if he would or would not have committed that crime 鈥� only he knows that. But ultimately, that information that was gleaned from this was alarming. It does parallel information that鈥檚 been found post-event or post-shooting from other incidents around the country.鈥�
After arresting Wagshol, Norwalk police contacted Central Connecticut State University where Wagshol was enrolled and living on campus for the Spring 2019 semester. The university for the time being and says it has heightened security around campus.
Wagshol has been charged with four counts of illegal purchase of a high-capacity magazine. He has not been charged with anything related to violence or planning a shooting. After more than two weeks in jail, Wagshol was placed on house arrest with a GPS monitor. He plans to plead not guilty to illegal purchase of high-capacity magazines at his next court appearance, according to his attorney.
鈥淲e have no problem with people having concern,鈥� said Darnell Crosland, Wagshol鈥檚 attorney recently. 鈥淏ut in America, you should have due process so we鈥檙e asking, give us a discovery, let us know exactly what you鈥檙e charging him for with relation to a 鈥榤ass shooting鈥� and let us move on. If it鈥檚 just possession of the high-capacity magazines, we can deal with that.鈥�
Melissa Potter was standing in her kitchen when her nephew called. Their conversation ultimately spurred her to contact authorities.
Ryan Lindsay / Connecticut Public Radio
Suspicions And Worries
Melissa and Lee Ann Potter were eating dinner when they saw their nephew鈥檚 mugshot appear on TV. They had no idea he had been arrested. Wagshol was pictured with two other men on ABC鈥檚 World News Tonight with the caption 鈥淢ass Shooting Threat Arrest.鈥�
鈥淚t was kind of unnerving, but it was also kind of satisfying that our suspicions, that this phone call that I received and the conversations that we had with the police and the FBI, had come to fruition,鈥� Melissa said.
About a week later, the family gathered for a big anniversary celebration. Melissa said Wagshol鈥檚 mom, Joanne Kirson, was invited. She hoped her sister would come and experience a reprieve from the news. But Kirson didn鈥檛 show.
When the FBI and Norwalk police knocked Kirson鈥檚 door a few weeks earlier, she told them she was nervous but not surprised, according to the risk warrant. Kirson had texted with her son about the call to Potter the day before. When she asked why he needed an AR-15-style rifle, he said he 鈥渨anted one in the event World War III broke out.鈥� And when she asked about the high-capacity magazines, Wagshol texted back with profanity. When the FBI asked Kirson if she thought her son was capable of committing a 鈥渕ass shooting or similar horrific act鈥� she said she couldn鈥檛 say 鈥渘o,鈥� according to the risk warrant.
Ultimately, Melissa Potter says she made the best choice by calling the police. It wasn鈥檛 an easy decision, especially because she felt it would likely hurt her sister and their already strained relationship. She says she鈥檚 glad to be free of the guilt of staying silent before a possible mass shooting, but not free of shame.
鈥淭here鈥檚 also a feeling of shame that鈥檚 associated with it,鈥� Melissa said. 鈥淗ow could this happen to a member of my own family that could have possibly even thought about killing innocent people? It is a shameful thing. In the Jewish religion, we say it鈥檚 a 鈥榮handa.鈥� So it鈥檚 a shameful thing that you don鈥檛 want to share with people.鈥�
Lee Ann Potter says she feels neither guilt nor shame.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always somebody鈥檚 family member,鈥� Lee Ann said. 鈥淎nd if the family members don鈥檛 want to speak out for whatever reason, it鈥檚 never a good situation that results.鈥�
Update 11/08/2019 1:40 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include clarify the relationship between Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) and so-called 鈥渞ed flag鈥� laws.
Update 10/09/2019 4:16 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include more information.
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