TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Hillsborough County man who planned to set fire to a local hospital in hopes of grabbing the FBI’s attention is behind bars Tuesday, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were first alerted to the plan when they received a tip late Monday night that 56-year-old Glenn Schaeffer had left his home dressed in camo, and possibly armed with a pipe bomb or Molotov cocktails.
Patrol units found Schaeffer driving his vehicle near US Highway 41 S and Pennsylvania Avenue and attempted a traffic stop. That’s when authorities said Schaeffer refused to exit his vehicle and took off.
Soon after, deputies found Schaeffer at his home in Gibsonton where he was arrested without incident.
A search of his vehicle uncovered two firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and bottles with an unknown liquid which the HCSO Bomb Team determined was not flammable.
The sheriff’s office said Schaeffer admitted he was “upset and planning on igniting the liquid at St. Joseph’s Hospital – South.” He also said the guns were for hospital security guards and anyone that would pose a threat to him.
“He wanted to get the attention of the FBI,” the sheriff’s office said in a release.
“Ensuring the safety of everyone in our community is a responsibility we all share,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “I commend the family member in this case for reporting the suspect’s threatening behavior, and the swift actions of our deputies that thwarted the potential harm to others.”
An agent with the FBI Tampa Division was on the scene as well. Schaeffer is facing a charge of felony fleeing to elude. An investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be pending.