ABC7 via AP
- An man caught by police with guns in his Chicago hotel room said it was "an honest to God accident."
- Footage viewed by media outlets showed that police had worried "it could've been a Las Vegas thing."
- Keegan Casteel, 32, was arrested and charged with two felony counts.
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An Iowa man found with firearms in his Chicago hotel room sparked fears of a Las Vegas-style massacre, but told police officers it was all "an honest to God accident" and he "didn't mean to startle anyone," according to footage viewed by the Associated Press and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Keegan Casteel, 32, was arrested and charged with two felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. His lawyer derided the media coverage of the incident, saying his client was visiting the city to propose to his girlfriend, not to commit a mass shooting, the Associated Press reported.
The incident began on the Fourth of July weekend, when an employee of the W Hotel reported seeing the weapons – a handgun and a rifle with a scope – and ammunition in Casteel's room. The room reportedly had a view of the Navy Pier and Lake Michgan, where crowds were gathering.
The find led officials to believe they had stopped a "tragedy" before it happened on a holiday weekend, the Sun-Times reported, citing the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, in which a gunman opened fire on a music festival from his hotel room.
Casteel was reportedly staying in the hotel with his girlfriend and two kids, who cried as the officers raided the room. The Sun-Times reported that one officer chastised Casteel for not properly researching the hotel, which prohibited firearms, before arriving with his guns.
"Brother, I wish you didn't bring any of this s--- with you," the officer said, according to the report. "It kills me that your kids are here."
Other officers could be heard on video remarking that "it could've been a Las Vegas thing," the Sun-Times reported.
Casteel told police the whole incident was an accident - in his rush to pack his gun range bag for the trip, he mistakenly believed his guns were not inside it, the Sun-Times reported.
But he found the weapons in the bag when the family was preparing to go to the beach, and removed them and left them in the hotel room. That's where the hotel employee found them.
"I didn't expect anything to happen. I just left them there for the day. Went to the beach. Came back. Went shopping," Casteel said, according to the Associated Press.
He added: "It's my fault. I didn't mean to startle anyone. I understand 100% why I'm here. But like I said, it's an honest to God accident," the outlet reported.
Casteel later proposed to his girlfriend after he was released on $10,000 bond, the Sun-Times reported.