Authorities say a Duluth man whose threats prompted a citywide lockdown on schools last week referred to a school shooter as “my hero.”

Travis John Anthony Warner Busch allegedly compared his firearm capabilities to those of the man who killed 58 people in Las Vegas and described how he could barricade a movie theater and shoot people like “fish in a barrel,” according to a criminal complaint.

He reportedly had a handgun cocked and fully loaded with hollow-point ammunition in the trunk of his car, which was parked outside East High School, where he was supervising a cafeteria worker in his job as an employment coach.

At his downtown apartment, police said they seized several additional firearms, including one that could be modified to have automatic capabilities.

“I’m at school and I don’t know what I am going to do,” Busch allegedly wrote to a relative Friday morning. “I seem to still lack the fortitude to take this gun out and start shooting.”

While a tip from the relative led to Busch’s arrest without incident, the disturbing nature of the case is sure to leave “ripple effects on the entire community,” a prosecutor said Tuesday.

“I don’t think we can highlight enough the enormous concern for public safety that the state has in this matter,” Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Kristen Swanson told a judge.

Busch, 35, was arraigned in State District Court on felony charges of making threats of violence and possession of a machine gun conversion kit.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Dale Harris set his bail at $200,000, doubling the minimum recommendation from the prosecution.

Public defender Matthew Miller said Busch, who has no criminal record, has mental health diagnoses and may have been impaired by medication. He also denied that Busch possessed the necessary equipment to produce a fully automatic firearm.

While acknowledging the highly charged cultural and political landscape surrounding mass shootings, the defense attorney also stressed the alleged threats were made in a private conversation to a relative - and not toward any person or organization with the intent of stoking fear.

According to the complaint, police were notified shortly after noon that Busch had been making a series of threats toward law enforcement over the past several hours and was at a high school in Duluth.

The complaint only stated that the comments were made to a “third party.” Miller later disclosed it was a “close relative.”

Officers eventually determined Busch was working in the cafeteria at East. Law enforcement notified the district and East was placed on lockdown.

Police entered the school with weapons drawn, finding Busch inside a locked cold storage room with the person he was supervising. He was taken to St. Luke’s hospital for an evaluation before he was cleared to be booked into the St. Louis County Jail.

Authorities said they recovered a number of messages sent by Busch, including:

“I will murder (every) cop at my door.”

“I can get in with a few machine guns, kill the one officer first and go to town.”

“Oh by the way this is hypothetical.”

“If the cops come they will die through the door.”

“Just pretend you didn’t hear, I am going to do what I do.”

“There are no innocent.”

At one point, Busch allegedly shared a link to a YouTube video of a convicted school shooter speaking at his sentencing. According to the complaint, he described the shooter as “my hero.”

Busch allegedly went on to state that he could padlock shut a movie theater with a lower entrance and shoot people like “fish in a barrel.” He also said he could shoot up the high school.

In another message, when asked if he had a specific plan, Busch allegedly replied: “I have lots of plans.”

Asked what would happen if law enforcement responded, Busch reportedly stated he would “get them to shoot me” because “I will die before I let them take me.”

The complaint states that Busch also discussed a “variety of modifications that he can make and has made to various firearms he owns” - comparing his weapons to those of Stephen Paddock, who used a bump stock to fire into a crowd at a musical festival on the Las Vegas Strip in October 2017.

Police said the .357 pistol loaded with hollow-point ammunition was found inside a boot in the trunk of his car outside the school.

Four more firearms were recovered in a search of his apartment, 113 W. First St. They included an 8-mm Mauser bolt-action rifle with a round in the chamber; a pump-style Remington 141 rifle; a Beretta handgun with one round in the chamber and a loaded magazine; and a Ruger 10/22 with a scope, collapsible buttstock and an extended capacity magazine.

A box for a slide-fire TAC-22 modification, which authorities said is believed to give the Ruger fully automatic capabilities, was also located. Also seized was a “rifle grip and trigger assembly which had a selector switch which indicated the option for semi-automatic fire and fully automatic fire.”

Miller, the defense attorney, said he anticipates a probable cause challenge to the machine gun charge, arguing that the items seized from Busch’s apartment were “incapable of rendering a firearm automatic.”

“The items in his possession cannot and will not make a gun fire more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger,” Miller said.

Busch, appearing behind the protective glass in the Duluth courthouse’s arraignment room, calmly answered a series of questions from the judge, acknowledging he understood the complaint and his rights.

Miller said Busch, a Texas native, has maintained six years of steady employment as a job coach with Choice Unlimited, a Duluth-based nonprofit that provides employment services for people with intellectual disabilities.

Kristie Buchman, the organization's executive director, would not comment on the case, nor would she confirm Busch's employment. Miller said it was his understanding that Busch’s employment would be terminated.

A search of court records reveals only traffic offenses on Busch’s record.

In September, Busch told the News Tribune that he had lived in Duluth for eight years. He was interviewed after a man was fatally shot outside his apartment on First Street.

"I knew it was a gunshot because I'm familiar with guns," he said at the time. "As soon as I heard it I called 911 and went to my window."

Travis Bean of Minneapolis said he was in shock when he saw Busch’s mugshot in the news and learned of the threats his friend allegedly made. He met Busch a few years ago and the two go to a cabin with a group once or twice a year.

“I don’t think he would hurt somebody,” Bean told the News Tribune.

Bean said Busch was committed to working with people with special needs because “he liked people being treated fairly.” Busch had dealt with depression in the past, Bean said, but he had been turning his life around.

“He was always really kind of depressive, just down, but was never life-threatening or anything like, ‘I want to kill myself,’” Bean said.

Bean described Busch as a “gun enthusiast.”

“Travis is from Texas. He likes guns,” Bean said. “It’s always there to protect himself.”

If convicted, Busch faces a maximum of five years in prison on each charge. He is scheduled to be back in court on April 30.