A Maryland teenager wanted to carry out two mass shootings at schools and outlined his plans in a 129-page document that a tipster reported to authorities, authorities said Thursday.
Montgomery County Police said in a statement Thursday that Alex Yeh, 18, of Rockville, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of threatening gang violence.
At the heart of the case are documents seized under search warrants as a result of an FBI and police investigation, the statement said.
Police said, “In the documents, Ye writes about school shootings and strategizes how to carry them out.He also says he is considering targeting elementary schools and wants to become famous.'' ” he said.
In his book, Ye said he wanted to attack his former elementary school because “small children are easy targets,” and that he “strategized how to access the easiest classrooms at the high school.” “They were rehearsing,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters. Friday in Gaithersburg.
Despite these plans for mass shootings, Ye wrote that his true desire was to become a serial killer.
“I also wrote that you'd rather be a serial killer than a mass murderer because serial killers are more glamorized,” Jones added.
Police had been investigating Ye since early March and finally arrested him this week, fearing that he might actually carry out these plans.
“It's not our goal to make an arrest in every case of intimidation,” Jones said, adding that his agency has worked on 140 tips about possible school violence this school year alone.
“But this case is different. This case is completely different. It takes the matter to another level. It is the concern that brought this matter to light by reporting the suspect's manifesto to the authorities. He was a witness with a
Investigators also found internet searches, drawings and documents “related to extensive threats of violence,” the statement said.
Police added that as a result of the investigation, security has been increased at schools, particularly Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, which Ye attended directly before being sent to a series of psychiatric hospitals.
Authorities first learned of the document (which Ms. Ye referred to as a “memoir”) after being contacted by an informant named only as “Witness 1” in court records. was. The person, who had spent time with Ye in a psychiatric hospital, said the memoir was a fictional account of a high school shooting.
The memoir begins with a disclaimer: “This is not a threat of violence, nor does it represent the author's beliefs,” according to court records.
But the content was enough to alarm authorities, and according to court records, Mr. Ye put at least five people at Wootton High School at “significant risk of death or serious injury if the threat was carried out.” ”.
“The 'Manifesto' is part fiction and part non-fiction, and appears to be based on real-world planning threats of mass violence,” officials said in court documents.
Ye allegedly wrote that he wanted to shoot up an elementary school with an AR-15 because young children are easy targets, that he wanted to become famous, and that he wanted to set the record for the most murders.
His internet searches included searches for gun ranges “near me” and school shootings in places like Sandy Hook and Parkland, prosecutors said. The suspect also participated in a Discord chat group with others focused on glorifying school shootings, the indictment said.
According to court records, Ye had been hospitalized since December 2022 after allegedly threatening to “shoot up the school” and having homicidal and suicidal thoughts. It wasn't immediately clear why Ye was released the following month, but court records said it was determined that Ye was still concerned about school shootings, self-harm and explosives. .
A public school spokesperson said Ye had not attended school since the fall of 2022 but continued her education through a distance learning program.
Jones said a gun belonging to Ye's father was found locked in the home during a police search. However, the suspect did not appear to have a weapon.
Still, authorities said they believed Ye posed a legitimate threat.
“Even after he was expelled, Mr. Ye said he could do something for the graduation ceremony because he lived near the school,” Jones said Friday.