EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Police say a Las Vegas man accused of painting drug cartel-style threats on two El Paso billboards told investigators that he wanted to show how people die because of the drug trade.

Police arrested Ryan Jean on May 25 at the El Paso International Airport as he tried to board a plane. Arrest affidavits say that three days earlier, he had climbed the posts of two billboards to paint messages that read “Dying for Drugs” and “Plata o Plomo,” an expression commonly used by drug cartels to intimidate people.