Fox News reports that Matt Shultz, the lead singer of the band Cage the Elephants, has been arrested. 

Shultz was arrested on Thursday in New York City. He is now facing two charges of criminal possession of a loaded firearm and two charges of criminal possession of a weapon.

What happened?

The incident that led to Shultz's arrest took place at the Bowery Hotel in Lower Manhattan.

The New York Post reports:

[Shultz] was caught after a worker saw him pull a gun from his pocket “in a public part” of the hotel, prosecutors said at Shultz’s arraignment Friday night. He appeared to be intoxicated at the time, prosecutors added.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) was subsequently notified, and officers obtained a search warrant in order to be able to legally enter and search Shultz's room at the Bowery hotel.

The NYPD proceeded to execute the search warrant, and that is when they found the two loaded guns - a .45 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol and a .45 caliber Sig Sauer pistol.

The Post reports:

Two guns were later recovered from a bag in his hotel room, along with 11 Polaroid photos of the guns including some that depicted “a hand holding, pointing of the firearm,” prosecutors said. Additionally, six handwritten notes were found, “one of which states in substance: ‘I will protect myself if I am attacked,’” according to prosecutors.

Arrested, charged, and released

The NYPD confiscated the loaded guns. And, the NYPD arrested Shultz.

Shultz was then taken to the 9th precinct station and booked on two charges of criminal possession of a loaded firearm and two charges of criminal possession of a weapon.

Shultz's arraignment took place the following day, on Friday. There, Shultz's attorney claimed that the guns discovered by police in Shultz's hotel room were purchased legally and registered, but not in the state of New York.

The judge set Shultz's bail at $10,000 cash.

Shultz posted that bail on Friday night, and his next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 22.

Background

Cage the Elephant is a Kentuck-based alt-rock group that was formed in 2006 by the 39-year-old Schultz - the band's lead vocalist - his brother, Brad Shultz, and others. The group has won two Grammy awards for having the best rock album: One award was for the 2015 release Tell me I'm pretty. The other was for the 2019 release Social Cues. 

The band has yet to comment on the arrest of Shultz.