Local News

Man Discovered to Have Arsenal of Weapons in His Houston Hotel Room

By  | 
Tony Maples Photography

 

At the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston, police arrested 49-year-old Russell Lawrence Ziemba around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 31. According to ABC 13, Ziemba was extremely intoxicated and bothering other hotel guests in the lobby. He was asked to leave, and when he didn’t, the police were called.

According to reports, police found multiple weapons and ammunition including an assault rifle in his 28th-floor hotel room. He says that he didn’t mean any harm, and he was worried that the weapons would get stolen out of his truck so he brought them up to his room. Employees of the hotel told the news that “…he had a crossbow and a number of other guns in his truck, including a handgun that wasn’t holstered.”

Ziemba, whose wife says he is a veteran with PTSD, told police he had been drinking for several days. Click2Houston.com adds that he “…was extremely depressed and intoxicated when he was arrested,” according to their sources. Authorities say that they don’t believe he was planning on using the weapons. Ziemba was arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon, assaulting an officer, and trespassing (since he was asked to leave the hotel even though he was a guest.) The Hyatt Regency had a big New Year’s Eve celebration planned for the following night that carried on successfully.