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Heavily armed Pittsburgh man allegedly obsessed with Nazis held on federal weapons charges

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh man with an alleged obsession with Nazis and mass shootings will be held in federal prison while he awaits trial on weapons charges, according to a report from Channel 11 News’ exchange partners at TribLIVE.

Dennis Riggs, 50, was arrested by FBI agents around 6 a.m. Wednesday after a search warrant was served at his home in Troy Hill.

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TribLIVE reported authorities found a .223-caliber AR-15 style rifle inside his home, and that Riggs told investigators he knew he couldn’t have firearms because he is a felon. According to court records, Riggs pleaded guilty in 1994 to aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

During a court hearing Friday, agents said there were photos of Riggs wearing Nazi apparel, giving Nazi salutes and loading and unloading an AR-15 style rifle, TribLIVE reported.

Authorities said they also found a video of the 2010 New Zealand mosque shootings that killed 51, and a photo of Dylann Roof, who was convicted of killing nine churchgoers in 2015 at a church in Charleston because he wanted to start a race war.

According to TribLIVE, along with the AR-15-style rifle in Riggs’s home, federal agents also found a .22-caliber Ruger revolver in a dining room closet, a Harrington & Richardson shotgun in a different closet, a .38-special revolver in a nightstand, a .38-caliber Colt revolver in a dresser, and a .32-caliber revolver in a desk drawer.