Mark Prieto, 58, had seven guns when he was arrested on May 14 while driving east from Arizona through New Mexico, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said in a news release Tuesday. He faces charges of firearms trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime and possession of an unregistered firearm, the release said.

The indictment against Prieto alleges he discussed his plans between January and May with two people whom he believed “shared his racist beliefs,” unaware they were working with the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office said. He then sold an AK-style rifle and an AR-style rifle to one of those individuals within the span of a month, all while under FBI surveillance, the release said.

Prieto was targeting a concert scheduled for May 14 and May 15 at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, according to a statement of probable cause attached to the federal complaint. While it does not specify whose concert Prieto allegedly targeted, a schedule for the venue shows Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny was slated to perform there on those dates.

After his arrest, Prieto denied he was going to Atlanta, but he did admit to knowing the two people who were working with the FBI, and told agents he had no intentions of carrying out the attack, the federal complaint states. CNN has reached out to Prieto’s public defender in New Mexico for comment.

If convicted, the charges of firearms trafficking and transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the US Attorney’s Office said. A conviction for possession of an unregistered firearm carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

Indictment outlines monthslong undercover operation

One of the individuals Prieto confided in was an undercover FBI agent, while the other was a confidential source who’d spoken with Prieto more than a dozen times at different gun shows over the last three years, according to the complaint. That source told the FBI in late 2023 that Prieto had made comments advocating for a mass shooting targeting “blacks, Jews, or Muslims,” the complaint says.

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The suspect, Smiley Martin, was facing a murder charge, according to CNN affiliate KCRA. He was also charged with two felony firearms possession counts related to the April 2022 shooting that police say involved at least five shooters and left behind a chaotic crime scene littered with more than 100 shell casings. Two other people, including Martin’s brother, were also arrested in connection with the incident.

Martin’s attorney, Norman Dawson, said he was alerted of his death early Saturday.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced on social media that a 29-year-old man had been found unresponsive in his cell around 2:15 a.m. Saturday, but despite life-saving efforts was ultimately pronounced dead. Though the agency did not name Martin as the inmate, it said the man had been in custody since Martin’s arrest date of April 20, 2022.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The University of Virginia will pay $9 million in a settlement related to a 2022 campus shooting that killed three football players and wounded two students, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families said Friday.

But some of the families are calling for more: The immediate release of an independent probe into the shooting that was completed last year. Its focus included efforts by the university to assess the potential threat of the student who was eventually charged with murder as well as recommendations from what was learned.

Kimberly Wald, an attorney who represents some of the families, said the university should have removed the alleged shooter from campus before the attack because he displayed multiple red flags through erratic and unstable behavior.

“This settlement today is only one small step for these families — there is much to be done,” said Wald, an attorney with the Miami-based Haggard Law Firm. “If there is one lesson, even one lesson that we can learn from that report, we need to know it now … We need to protect lives now.”

University officials postponed the report’s release last year over concerns that it could affect the alleged shooter’s upcoming trial.

“We are committed to providing it as soon as we can be sure that doing so will not interfere in any way with the criminal proceeding,” UVA President Jim Ryan said last fall.

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