ATLANTA — A man was to appear in court Friday after law officers say he made statements about weapons and going to his old high school to test them.
Joseph John Medved, 51, made the comments to a receptionist at a Roswell pain treatment center Wednesday night, Fulton County sheriff's spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said. He also mentioned a weapon at a pawn shop, she said.
Witnesses to the conversation called deputies in Forsyth County, where Medved lives. Local authorities then called in the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, and put him under surveillance.
Deputies say they confirmed that he went to a pawn shop to get a weapon. They also went to his home in Cumming, still watching to see what he would do.
"Forsyth County deputies saw him go to a wooded area and fire shots into the woods," Flanagan said, adding that officers saw him putting weapons in a truck.
He was then taken into custody without incident.
Later, in a search of his basement, deputies from Fulton and Forsyth counties said they found a shotgun, ammunition and a suspicious device.
"They immediately left the home when they discovered what appeared to be an IED, improvised explosive device," Flanagan said. The device found in the home included "shrapnel described as nuts and bolts," she said.
Medved was being held Friday morning on a charge of terroristic threats and acts. A court appearance was scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Fulton County Jail records show. The jail records do not list an attorney for Medved.
His son, John Medved, said he believes the situation is being blown out of proportion.
"He gets pissed off and he makes comments that he does not mean," John Medved told WSB-TV.
The suspect's old high school is in Gwinnett County, though authorities have not said which one it is. Administrators at schools in Forsyth and Gwinnett counties were told to be on alert as authorities investigated the case.