Iowa State Trooper’s Hunch May Have Saved Attack at Google

A trooper for the Iowa State Patrol had a hunch something didn't add up during a recent encounter with a man whose vehicle was in the ditch along Interstate 80. So much so the trooper decided to call police in the state the man was headed for. It's a good thing he did.

It happened on March 8 in Adair, Iowa. Kyle Long was inside the vehicle of State Trooper Ryan Zenor while the two waited on a tow truck for Long's vehicle that had gone into the ditch. Zenor asked him where he was headed and Long told him he was making the trip from Maine to California for a meeting with Google executives.

In state patrol dash cam video obtained by KCCI, Long tells Zenor "I am going there to talk to them. I am starting an idea and trying to pitch it." Zenor wondered where his luggage was and Long said "this is it," while indicating all he had was what he was wearing. A 3,300-mile trip and no luggage.

Zenor believed something was wrong with the story so he called police in Mountain View, California to let them know Long was headed that way.  What Zenor expected to be a short phone call turned into a 6-hour one. It turns out Kyle Long had made threats to hurt employees at the Google headquarters after the took down Long's YouTube channel.

Thanks to a heads-up from Iowa State Patrol trooper Ryan Zenor, Long was arrested by California police. They found three baseball bats in his trunk. He also had directions to the headquarters for Google. The 30-year-old Long has been charged with making threats and is being held on $25,000 bond.