Date Posted:07:03:39 07/30/12 Mon Author: Uncle Sam Subject: 'Dark Knight' copycat suspect is more sarcastic than psychotic
A friend of the hulking Maryland man nabbed in a possible “Dark Knight” copycat plot said the suspect is more sarcastic than psychotic.
Neil Prescott, 28, remained under psychiatric care Saturday after police took him into custody a day earlier for making homicidal threats against his boss and former co-workers.
The 6-foot-7, 270-pound Prescott, of Crofton, Md., made a pair of menacing calls last week to Pitney Bowes after the company decided to get rid of him, police said.
Prescott, after referring to himself as “a joker,” threatened to splatter his supervisor’s brain “all over the sidewalk” and to “load my guns and blow everybody up.”
“The Neil I know made those comments sarcastically in an environment where he felt he could make them without being taken seriously,” friend Mike Cochran wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
Cops responding to Prescott’s home found him wearing a T-shirt with the message, “Guns don’t kill people, I do.”
Inside, they discovered 25 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition — and quickly brought him to a nearby hospital.
Authorities said Prescott’s mention of the word “joker” after the Colorado rampage at the new Batman movie on July 20 set off law enforcement alarm bells.
No charges were immediately brought against Prescott, who reportedly was a weapons collector and target shooter. But Maryland cops said they had prevented a violent incident.
Prescott worked for a subcontractor with the mailroom and software company, officials said.
