Threat of violence at Stanley Cup victory parade, man jailed in Las Vegas
Las Vegas
A man accused of threatening mass violence at a parade last weekend in honor of the Vegas Golden Knights victory in the NHL Stanley Cup championship was ordered Wednesday to remain incarcerated unless he can post $55,000 bail and can enroll in a high-quality electronic monitoring program.
Anthony Zuccaro, 31, remained in custody after appearing in court in separate cases alleging he damaged Nevada State Police vehicles with his motorcycle and threatened to drive a truck into crowds of hockey fans or use gasoline bombs to harass police and revelers in the Las Vegas Strip.
Zuccaro’s cases are separate from those of a 33-year-old man with a history of mental illness who was arrested and jailed last week after allegedly threatening mass shooting during the June 13 Stanley Cup final.
“I’m not dangerous,” Zuccaro said Wednesday during the first of two appearances before different judges at the Las Vegas Justice Court. Zuccaro was chained while facing misdemeanor vehicle damage and reckless driving charges in the state police auto damage case, adding that he was “making a life in Las Vegas.”
Prosecutor Taylor Reeves told the judge that Zuccaro works at a casino in Las Vegas and is from New York, but has lived in Nevada for nearly two years.
Zuccaro was taken to a separate court minutes later on false threat charges for an act of terrorism threatening the Golden Knights parade.
According to a Las Vegas police report, Zuccaro was arrested at his home after 2 a.m. Saturday following a series of audio-taped calls to crisis hotlines in Nevada and Arizona in which he allegedly admitted to smashing windows and side mirrors on police vehicles.
Zuccaro’s “comments grew increasingly violent,” police told investigators, “until he began making statements that he was planning a mass attack … on Las Vegas Boulevard during a parade celebrating the Staley Cup- victory” and then get the police to shoot him dead.
“He further stated that he was targeting the event due to the presence of many cameras” and that “his estranged girlfriend and her new boyfriend would also be present,” the police report said. “He hoped to cause mass panic and many deaths.”
Two public defense attorneys who separately represented Zuccaro in his cases did not respond to email messages about whether they would seek a mental health evaluation to determine whether Zuccaro is fit to prosecute.
The judges set his next court dates for July 5 and July 6.
In the shooting threat case, a state court judge must consider ordering a forensic evaluation of 33-year-old Matthew Michael DeSavio by state psychiatrists on July 12.
DeSavio is accused of threatening to “shoot” the Golden Knights game against the Florida Panthers at the T-Mobile Arena. He reportedly described in text messages, phone calls and social media posts his intention to carry out a massacre similar to a mass shooting on the Strip in October 2017 that left 60 people dead and more than 850 injured – the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
