A man accused of threatening to shoot up 2019's Pride Parade was sentenced Monday on three bank robbery counts.
Andre Lafayette Holmes, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of armed bank robbery and one count of bank robbery in connection to incidents at the US Bank on Campo Road in Spring Valley on Nov. 4, 2016; the Mission Federal Credit Union in San Diego on June 14, 2018; and California Bank and Trust on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest in San Diego on June 28, 2019. He was sentenced on Monday to nearly six years in connection to the crimes.
FBI investigators said last year that they linked Holmes to the robberies through his phone after he called the San Diego Pride offices twice within four minutes last June, threatening to kill “all the gays and children" at the parade.
When asked if her son disliked gay people, Holmes’ mother, Mina Laroashun, told NBC 7 last year, “No, no, no! That was some response not to be taken seriously and I don't know if that’s him."
A federal complaint also alleges that during Holmes' second call to the Pride office, he said "F--- Donald Trump and I hate Hillary Clinton … I'm going to shoot up the Pride event."
“That’s amazing to me because I know he likes Donald Trump,” Holmes’ grandmother Geneva Roberts told NBC 7 in 2019.
During the first stickup, investigators say Holmes gave the teller a demand note that read: “We have guns! I will personally shoot anyone you alert! Don’t make me jump over the counter and kill innocent people. Big bills only and I’ll calmly leave. Money now!!!!”
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The back of the note read: “I’m sorry, good man on hard times. Sincerely, Bank Robber.”
When FBI investigators searched Holmes’ North Park apartment, they say they found a gun, a rubber “old man” style mask, a bag of cash and clothing matching one of the bank robberies. The gunman in the Mission Fed stickup was wearing an "old man mask." Investigators also said they found a 7-Eleven Big Gulp mug similar to one used in two of the heists.
"This dangerous defendant was apprehended because of an excellent investigation by the FBI and terrific work by prosecutor Mario Peia," U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer said in a news release issued on Monday. "Mr. Holmes terrorized bank employees and put their lives at risk, and for that, he goes where he deserves to go: prison."
Holmes is awaiting trial on charges related to the threats he allegedly made regarding the Pride event.
