Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood said suspects have used social media to post mass shooting threats and his deputies will continue locking up and taking the guns of people who do the same.

The move to arrest suspects threatening local mass shootings began on Aug. 16 but long before that DeLand police were working to keep one of those men off the streets after telling detectives he was thinking of a massacre like the one at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, documents show.

Since then, police in Volusia County tracked down and arrested six men accused of making threats to kill groups of people. They include a Daytona Beach Army veteran, a DeLand man whose romantic advances were rejected and another DeLand man who police said shot up cars months ago and whose parents believe needs mental help.

The wave of arrests is disconcerting to law enforcement.

"It's really alarming to see the racism, bigotry, the hatred that is pouring out there," said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, whose agency arrested three of the suspects.

Chitwood said the suspects have taken to social media and other places on the internet to post their threats He also warned that deputies won't stop locking up people who make those threats.

"The internet has become the platform for disenfranchised people out of touch with mainstream society," Chitwood said. "A lot of seeds of violence and hatred are being sown there."

[READ MORE: Deputies: Daytona man pledged to commit mass shooting in text messages]

[READ MORE: Volusia sheriff: Ex-girlfriend reported Daytona man’s threatening texts about mass shooting]

[READ MORE: Man threatens to shoot up Orange City neighborhood near school, police say]

Although Hunter McGowan, 21, the subject of a DeLand case, is in jail for shooting up parked vehicles at a senior living facility, police Chief Jason Umberger said he is dangerous.

"The behavior displayed by Mr. McGowan has been alarming and that is what concerns us the most," Umberger said.

Shooting patrol cars

On Aug. 16, McGowan was arrested, accused of shooting parked vehicles at the College Arms Towers at 101 N. Amelia Ave. on Jan. 26.

McGowan was charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle and criminal mischief over $1,000. He remained in jail on $50,000 bail.

Umberger said McGowan is also a suspect in the shooting of several DeLand police patrol cars on the weekend of Dec. 8-9.

While investigating the College Arms Towers shooting, DeLand detectives spoke with McGowan in February and learned he had been thinking of a mass shooting, reports state.

Since McGowan's case, more suspects were arrested. Most recently a DeLand man was arrested by the FBI for threatening to shoot up a synagogue and killing Jews, authorities said.

On Sept. 6, the FBI arrested Hanson Larkin, 25, who authorities said traveled to Miami to meet a Hialeah man in whom he had romantic interest. After the South Florida man rejected Larkin's propositions, the DeLand man sent him threatening messages, including that of shooting up a Jewish worship center and Jews, authorities said. The South Florida man is Jewish.

Larkin was charged with making threats using interstate communication, according to a statement released by the FBI.

In a Risk Protection Order court hearing on Wednesday, Larkin agreed to voluntarily give up his firearms, undergo metal treatment and not possess firearms for 12 months.

Similarly, a Daytona Beach Army veteran, posted threats of killing Jews on the live YouTube chat during the PBS "NewsHour" program, saying he needed to do that to be relevant, Volusia County Sheriff's Office investigators said.

Leo Arong, 45, was arrested Sept. 6 for YouTube posts. Volusia deputies assisted by Daytona Beach police charged Arong with threatening to commit a mass shooting. He's being held without bail in the Volusia County Branch Jail.

Arong, who called the suicide hotline at an Orlando Veteran Affairs several times, described himself as a "inbred loser" and said "We have to kill Jews in order for losers like me to feel relevant," an arrest report states.

The Sheriff's Office was tipped off to Arong's posts by The Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Orlando, records show.

Arong, who said he "should been aborted at birth, to save the country from my coming mass killings of Americans," made other comments that related to a mass shooting, investigators said.

"I hate myself. I am uglier than the El Paso shooter, and girls don't like me, so I will murder as many people as I can," Arong posted, according to deputies.

Threats frighten estranged wife

Two weeks before deputies detained Arong, they went looking for another man on Aug. 24 for making mass shooting threats, reports state.

Brian Cabral, 38, of Ridgewood Avenue near DeLand, texted his wife with whom he was having a troubled relationship and said he was going to die in a mass shooting, authorities said.

Cabral was charged with written threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, a Volusia County sheriff's report states.

Cabral initially refused to tell deputies where he hid his firearms — Colt 9 mm and .45-caliber pistols — and remained in jail.

Seven days later he agreed to give up his guns and was released from jail by a judge on his own recognizance, court records show.

Investigators seized Cabral's cellphone so they can analyze it to see if he had done any internet searches on how to conduct mass shootings, reports state. Cabral could not be reached for this story.

When people make alarming comments about mass shootings, police take action because they don't know what the person is capable of, said Orange City police Deputy Chief Wayne Miller.

Miller’s department acted swiftly on Aug. 17, and were hot on the trail of John Deranleau, 27, of Lake Mary. The homeless man, in text messages, threatened to shoot and kill a woman, her entire family as well as her whole neighborhood, police said.

The woman, who called police, was worried about her family’s well-being and Orange City Elementary School, which is 50 yards from her home, Miller said.

“As soon as we saw the text messages and the nature of the threats he (Deranleau) sent to his ex-girlfriend’s landlord, we jumped on it,” Miller said. “We took the threats very seriously because we had no idea what he was capable of.”

Deranleau didn’t directly threaten the school, however police got a warrant charging Deranleau with aggravated cyber stalking to get him off the streets. Police ensured the charge carried a no bail status, Miller said.

Deranleau was located near Mill Lake Park in Orange City. This was in violation of his probation that prohibited him from leaving Seminole County, Miller said.

“He claimed he was trying to get to a hospital but he didn’t appear to need medical attention,” Miller said, but Deranleau's behavior worried police even though he wasn't found armed.

Miller commended the Orange City woman for reporting the threats and urged residents to be more vigilant of what they hear and see.

“If they see or hear something, say something,” Miller said.

The incident in Orange City happened the day after Volusia deputies and multiple agencies went on the hunt for Tristan Wix, 25, of Daytona Beach.

On Aug. 16, deputies, with the help of multiple other agencies, caught Wix. His ex-girlfriend called police after Wix sent her text messages saying he wanted to kill 100 people by shooting them from 3 miles away, investigators said.

After Wix was arrested in the parking lot of a Winn Dixie in Daytona Beach Shores, authorities found a hunting rifle with 400 rounds of ammunition in his apartment, police said.

Charged with written threats to kill or do bodily injury, Wix remained in Volusia's jail without bail.

Risk orders no guarantee



Months before Larkins, Arong, Cabral, Deranleau, and Wix, there was DeLand's McGowan.

Police say McGowan's car was seen in video surveillance footage driving by the senior living facility at 3 a.m. with visible gun flashes coming from the car leaving behind cars with shattered windows and bullet holes.

Police have had other run-ins with McGowan.

On May 30, five months after the patrol cars were shot, McGowan was seen sitting on a sidewalk behind the DeLand police headquarters and told an officer he had busted the window of a patrol car. The rock was found inside the police car, reports show.

Then, on June 12, McGowan was removed from the police department after he said he was there to meet someone from homeland defense, investigators said.

McGowan, described in documents as having mental issues, said he had thoughts of mass killing. He also told police that because of his mental state, he could not be held responsible for what he does, police said.

“McGowan stated that in his present condition, the CIA and the FBI put images in his head so he can conduct a mass shooting of people,” DeLand investigators said.

Detectives found bullet holes in McGowan’s car and were surprised to learn that McGowan said he shot up his car because the Army had rejected his application. McGowan also said he wanted to be a professional sniper, officers said.

Although police have no evidence that McGowan wants to hurt a specific group people, it is obvious he likes guns and is dangerous, Umberger said.

“The evidence and the crimes in which he has committed indicate that he enjoys shooting at parked vehicles and damaging property,” Umberger said.

McGowan's parents also expressed concern about their son’s behavior and said he is dangerous and that they worried that he could hurt people or himself, reports state.

Documents show that Erik McGowan told police that he his son needed to be institutionalized.

DeLand police moved quickly and in June petitioned a court to grant them authority to seize McGowan’s firearms, records show. Police seized McGowan's .40-caliber Glock 23 pistol and a Remington 710 sniper rifle, records show.

And while the court ordered McGowan to undergo a year of mental treatment, DeLand police do not have the authority to ensure that McGowan attends his therapy. A court order also is not a guarantee he will obey if he someday makes bail.

“But even this order (Risk Protection Order) cannot ensure that he will not gain access to guns,” Umgerger said.