1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:10,399 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. On March thirty first, twenty twenty five, 2 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: FBI agents in Wisconsin received records in response to a 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: search warrant. TikTok had turned over a mountain of data 4 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: that would take weeks to comb through. The owner of 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,479 Speaker 1: the accounts in question had been dead for months, which 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: you might assume would mean there was no real reason 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: to rush. The crime they were investigating was already solved 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: and there was no perpetrator to prosecute. But in the 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: time that it had taken to get these records, they'd 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: already missed something big. The digital footprint of a school 11 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: shooter is always full of red flags, that's no surprise. 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: But these red flags weren't just missed warning signs of 13 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: a shooting that it was too late to prevent. By 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: the time that search warrant was served, another shooting had 15 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: already happened, and they were worried it wouldn't be the last. 16 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: As they began sifting through the records, they found exactly 17 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,839 Speaker 1: what they were looking for, Another mass shooter in the making. 18 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: I'm Molly Conger, and this is weird. Little guys, this 19 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: story is awful in every way. It's complicated. There are 20 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: too many moving parts and sealed documents and ongoing court 21 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: cases and investigations that will never yield any court records. 22 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: Because the perpetrator is dead. It's impossible to really nail 23 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: down the truth in any way that I'm at all 24 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,519 Speaker 1: comfortable with. I'm not going to get to the bottom 25 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: of anything here, and it's uglier than usual. Even I am, 26 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: for better or worse, pretty good at tuning out my 27 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: own emotions when I read and write about terrible things. 28 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: I try not to let my heart get hard, of course, 29 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: but when I'm working, I'm working not feeling. It's easier 30 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: that way, and I've had a lot of practice at it. 31 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: I can get through the day reading page after page 32 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: of old neo Nazi forum posts without letting it in. 33 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:47,959 Speaker 1: I close my laptop at the end of the day, 34 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: have dinner, watch a little TV, and I don't think 35 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: about it when I'm lying in bed at night. That's 36 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: not working This week, the story of this tangled network 37 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: of online mass murder enthusiasts contained some of the darkest 38 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: shit I've ever seen, But it is unfortunately time to 39 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:19,679 Speaker 1: update the story of Terogram. I did an episode way 40 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: back in September of twenty twenty four. Very early on 41 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: in the show's existence, an episode called White Terror. When 42 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: I wrote that episode, the FBI had recently arrested Matthew 43 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: Allison and Dallas Humber, two of the leaders of the 44 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: online community known as the Terogram Collective. What had started 45 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: out as a sort of loose collection of informal online 46 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: spaces started to coalesce around twenty nineteen into something more organized. 47 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: By twenty twenty two, the Tterogram Collective was pushing out 48 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: slick propaganda manuals for acts of terrorism. Their online chats 49 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: were centered on the idea of militant accelerationism, a violent 50 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: worldview bent on forcing the collapse of civilization as we 51 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: know it, triggering a race war that ends with the 52 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: creation of a white ethno state. As part of their 53 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: plan to bring all of that about, Trogram encourages mass 54 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: shootings by celebrating the acts of prior shooters, elevating them 55 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: to a kind of sainthood. Saint Tarrant, Saint Rufe, Saint McVay, 56 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:38,239 Speaker 1: Saint Bravic, canonizing the men who would bathe the world 57 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: in blood. There are scores of saints, depending on who 58 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: you ask, but those four are always fan favorites. Brenton 59 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: Arrant killed fifty one people at mosques in christ Church, 60 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: New Zealand in twenty nineteen. Dylan Rufe killed nine people 61 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: in a black church in South Carolina in twenty fifteen. 62 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: Jamith McVeigh killed one hundred and sixty nine people when 63 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: he blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City in 64 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five. Unders Brave It killed seventy seven people 65 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: in Norway in twenty eleven, most of whom were teenagers 66 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: at a summer camp. These saints aren't just revered figures 67 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: though their role models. The goal of Saint culture is 68 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: not just to talk about what they did. It's to 69 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: encourage others to join their ranks. Alison and Humber are 70 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: still in custody with no date set for trial. Their 71 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: cases haven't really budged at all. None of the updates 72 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: to this story come from documents produced in those cases. 73 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: I wish they had, because the updates we do have 74 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: are more attacks, more murders linked to the Terogram collective. 75 00:05:57,279 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: There have been a few more arrests, a few more 76 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: foil plots, and a few more manifestos. There are more 77 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: than a few episodes worth of updates to this story. 78 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: Adamoffin founder Brandon Russell and his girlfriend Sarah Beth Clendaniel 79 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: have both been convicted for conspiring to blow up the 80 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: Power Grind in Baltimore. A man in Tennessee was arrested 81 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: mere moments before launching a drone armed with a bomb 82 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: that he planned to drop on an electrical substation. A 83 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: teenager in Australia tried to stab a member of parliament. 84 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,359 Speaker 1: A man in Washington was convicted for possession of a 85 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: machine gun. A man in Pennsylvania was arrested for possession 86 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: of child sexual abuse material. A teenager in Wisconsin murdered 87 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: both of his parents because he needed to empty their 88 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: bank accounts to fund his plan to overthrow the government. 89 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: Both the United States and Australia have joined the United 90 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,719 Speaker 1: Kingdom in officially designating Terogram as an international terrorist organization, 91 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: and just this month, the FBI arrested a man in 92 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: California who they allege was the primary author of the List, 93 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: which was trogram's collection of personal information about people they 94 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: deemed high value assassination targets. All of these crimes are connected, 95 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: not directly necessarily, these people didn't all know each other. 96 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: But they all consumed the same content, they traveled in 97 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: the same digital spaces, they had friends in common, and 98 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: they all wanted to destroy society as we know it. 99 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: Many of those are stories that we'll get to eventually. 100 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: I've been kicking the can on writing about Brandon Russell 101 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: all year, but some of the others will take time 102 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: to wind their way through the courts to some kind 103 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: of conclusion. No, today we're talking about Damien Blade Allen. 104 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: Kind of his story isn't quite over yet either, but 105 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: to start telling it, we have to start so far 106 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: before the beginning that we might as well get a 107 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: head start. Damian Allen was arrested in April of twenty 108 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: twenty five in Palm Beach County, Florida. He's been charged 109 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: with written threats to conduct a mass shooting, unlawful use 110 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: of a badge, and unlawful use of a two way 111 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: communications device. That third charge is something you see pretty 112 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: often in felony cases in Florida. It just means you 113 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: used a phone or a computer to facilitate the commission 114 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: of a felony. It kind of just feels like a 115 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,959 Speaker 1: way to add five years to any underlying felony, But 116 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: Florida's criminal code isn't the point here. The point is 117 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: Damian Allen didn't actually shoot anyone, He just talked about it. 118 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: But to understand how he ended up facing the charges, 119 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: we have to talk about who he was talking to 120 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: when he made those plans, and we have to go 121 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: back in time to talk about several people who did 122 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: carry out their attacks. Urai Krajik in Slovakia, Arda Kasukia 123 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:24,119 Speaker 1: Team in Turkey, Samantha Upnow in Wisconsin, and Solomon Henderson 124 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: in Tennessee. Uri Krazik and Arta Kasukia Team we've already 125 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: talked about in the Tarogram episode last fall. Krajik was 126 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: Tterogram's first saint. He was the first member of the 127 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:41,959 Speaker 1: group to heed the call and add himself to the pantheon. 128 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,439 Speaker 1: He was in direct personal contact with the group's leaders 129 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: for months leading up to his death in October of 130 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. He shot himself after killing two people 131 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: outside of a gay bar and brought us lava, and 132 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: after he died, Dallas humber Broke orded an audiobook of 133 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: his manifesto. Arda Kosukia Team was discussed briefly in that 134 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: episode two. In August of twenty twenty four, the eighteen 135 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: year old stabbed five men outside of a mosque in 136 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: his Kishehir, Turkey. Thankfully, none of his victims died and 137 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: he was taken into custody alive. His manifesto explicitly credits 138 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: several Tarogram publications for inspiring the attack, and Terogram channels 139 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: praised the attack. Writing in one Terogram chat, Dallas Humber 140 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: noted that despite his obvious commitment to the cause, he 141 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: couldn't be added to the list of saints worshiped by 142 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:49,199 Speaker 1: the group because he wasn't white. When Terogram leaders Dallas 143 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: Humber and Matthew Allison were indicted a month after Kosukia 144 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: Team's attack, his attack was one of three acts of 145 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: terror that the Department of Justice alleged they can concretely 146 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: connect the pair two, charging them with directly soliciting it. 147 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: Another of those three attacks was the brodest Lava shooting. 148 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 1: After arta Kosukia Team was arrested, he told Turkish authorities 149 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: that he'd been assisted and encouraged throughout the process of 150 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: planning the attack over a period of months by someone 151 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: he'd met online. He said they communicated in English, and 152 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: he believed this person was a teenager living in Eastern Europe. 153 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: His online friend used the name fyotulf Hansen, which you 154 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: might think sounds like a clue, but it really isn't. 155 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: It's just another homage to the mass shooters these young 156 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: men idolize. Fiotulf Hansen was from twenty seventeen until twenty 157 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: twenty five the legal name of Norwegian mass murderer under Bravik. 158 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 1: Bravik has since made yet another legal name change, and 159 00:11:55,800 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: he is now going by far Skalde Grimmer RAUSKYI older 160 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: of north Riki. I haven't pronounced that right, and that's okay. 161 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: It is apparently an entirely made up name, loosely based 162 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: in Old Norse. This Hanson, though the one chatting with 163 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: Arta Kaskia team about how to most sufficiently carry out 164 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: mass murders, was not actually Andres Bravic. Obviously, he's just 165 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: a fan. And on the day of Kasukia team's attack 166 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: August twelfth, twenty twenty four, mis Hanson served as a 167 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 1: sort of public relations agent for these attempted murders. Kasuka 168 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: team had prepared an array of photographs and documents ahead 169 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: of time, to be shared online, which Hanson appears to 170 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: have spent the day doing on a variety of platforms. 171 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: Marc Andre Argentino, a senior research fellow at the Accelerationism 172 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: Research Consortium, notes this trend. In this and similar attacks, 173 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: it a sort of press kit. Kazukia team had taken 174 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: selfies posing in his gear and photos of all the 175 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: gear laid out neatly on the floor. He uploaded his 176 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: own manifesto, along with more than a dozen other documents, 177 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: including meinkomf, James Mason's Siege, several Terogram publications, and a 178 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:27,559 Speaker 1: publication by a group called the Maniac Murder Cult. Also 179 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: in that folder were the manifestos of several mass shooters 180 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,959 Speaker 1: who inspired him, including the one that Jurai Krazik had 181 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: sent directly to the leaders of the Tterogram collective before 182 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: he murdered two people and brought us lava in twenty 183 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 1: twenty two. But once Kazukia Team was out there trying 184 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,680 Speaker 1: to commit mass murder, he couldn't really be posting. He 185 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: couldn't be checking his phone. That was Hanson's job. He 186 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: created a Twitter account to post links to the live 187 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: stream in the files. He posted links and images on 188 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:03,320 Speaker 1: forums devoted to gore videos, and around the same time, 189 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 1: someone probably Hanson, posted those same links on four Chan, 190 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: and he also invited a small handful of users to 191 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: a private group chat on Telegram. Before the attack began, 192 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: Kasuki Team sent Hanson a message on Telegram announcing that 193 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,400 Speaker 1: it would begin soon. The message had the links to 194 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: the photos, the documents, the manifesto, and the live stream. 195 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: Hanson forwarded that message to the private chat just before 196 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: the stream went live. There were nine people in the chat. 197 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: They dissembled ahead of time with fore knowledge of this 198 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: impending attack. This was a watch party. The stream was short. 199 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: The longest version of the video that I could find, 200 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: which does seem to be the entirety of the original stream, 201 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: is less than three minutes long. The opening frames show 202 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: the attacker's face. He's staring directly into the camera. It's 203 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: like he's looking at you. He's wearing a helmet, goggles, 204 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: and a half faced skull mask, and the shot lingers 205 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: there on his face for a little too long before 206 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: he affixes the camera to the front of his tactical 207 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: vest and starts walking outside of the mosque. A dozen 208 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: or so older men were sitting in a cafe area 209 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: after evening prayer, and they seem to ignore this oddly 210 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: dressed teenager until he approaches a man from behind and 211 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: stabs him. But then, instead of attacking any of the 212 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: other men in the immediate area, most of whom are 213 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: in their seventies and sitting down, he takes off running. 214 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 1: It's an odd scene. Remember, he's wearing safety goggles, a helmet, 215 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: a skull mask, a black tactical vest, and camo pants. 216 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: He looks weird and he's just stabbed a man, but 217 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 1: the reactions from most of the people around him are 218 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: pretty subdued. He lunges towards another man, who cries out 219 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: and does try to run from him, but an older 220 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: man smoking a cigarette a few feet away watches this 221 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: happen and just says, what are you doing in a 222 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 1: tone that I can only describe as disinterested. As Kosuki 223 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: team runs off down the street and through a nearby park, 224 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: he stabs several more people at random. An old man 225 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: on a bench in the park yells at him to 226 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,639 Speaker 1: go away, but a lot of the people don't react 227 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: to him at all. He was tackled by police less 228 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: than a minute and a half after the attack began, 229 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: and the video ends with the camera pointed up towards 230 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: the sky with faces peering down at it. He's lying 231 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,399 Speaker 1: on his back in a parking lot, surrounded by a 232 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 1: handful of police officers and a crowd of curious onlookers. 233 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: In the chat, the group was disappointed he had stabbed 234 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: several people, but in the video you can't actually see much. 235 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:44,160 Speaker 1: There's no blood, there's barely any screaming, there's no corpses. 236 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: Nobody died. It was just a lot of shaky footage 237 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,159 Speaker 1: of the path in a park and audio of a 238 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: nervous teen breathing heavily. A user known only as Nitro 239 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: wrote a for effort. Hansen said at least he did it, 240 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: and a third user replied credit for that at least. 241 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 1: That third message posted in that invite only private watch 242 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: party for what they hoped would be a mass murderer, 243 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: was written by a fourteen year old girl in Madison, Wisconsin. 244 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,679 Speaker 1: Four months later, not long after her fifteenth birthday, she 245 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 1: murdered two people before taking her own life. Natalie Rucknow, 246 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,400 Speaker 1: who preferred to go by Samantha, didn't live stream her attack, 247 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: which was a great disappointment to her followers. In the 248 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: final few minutes before she opened fire in a classroom 249 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on December sixteenth, 250 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, she was sitting in a bathroom stall 251 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: making her last posts, a photo of her own hand 252 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,960 Speaker 1: making the okay symbol commonly used to mean white power, 253 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: and a link to her manifesto that Boase garnered significant 254 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: attention later in the day, but at first, before it 255 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:21,199 Speaker 1: was big news, only a few people saw it. She 256 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: only had a handful of followers. One of those followers 257 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: replied to the post, writing quote live stream it. He 258 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: quoted her post too, adding the same message live stream it. 259 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: He seemed to know what it was, despite the fact 260 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: that the link to the manifesto she posted didn't work. 261 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 1: He could only see the photo, a photo posted without 262 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: a caption of a hand held out over a bathroom 263 00:19:54,880 --> 00:20:04,119 Speaker 1: floor live stream it. He understood, or perhaps knew, that 264 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: this was her final post before an attack. There's no 265 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: concrete evidence, at least none that's been made public, that 266 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,360 Speaker 1: this user had communicated directly with Roupnow about the specifics 267 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: of what was about to happen, but they were mutuals. 268 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: They followed each other's Twitter accounts. Screenshots of her account 269 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: taken before the attack hit the News showed that she 270 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:35,439 Speaker 1: followed nineteen accounts. I can only tell you for sure 271 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: who two of them belonged to. She followed two accounts 272 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: that both belonged to a seventeen year old boy in Antioch, Tennessee. 273 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: A month after Rupnow's death, he was dead too. Solomon 274 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,879 Speaker 1: Henderson shot and killed a student in his high school 275 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:59,440 Speaker 1: cafeteria before taking his own life. It's like a virus. 276 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: It's like the ring. These kids are watching people die online. 277 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 1: They're consuming online media about mass murder, and then within 278 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: weeks they're dead too, and they've taken other people with them. 279 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:23,120 Speaker 1: Samantha up Now killed two people, Aaron West, a teacher, 280 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:29,160 Speaker 1: and a fourteen year old student named Ruby Vergara. Aaron 281 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: loved camping in Disney World and her husband of twenty 282 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 1: years and their three daughters. Ruby loved art, her pets, 283 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: and playing keyboard in her family worship band. They weren't targeted. 284 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:53,120 Speaker 1: Their deaths were random, a meaningless, nihilist act of violence. 285 00:21:55,400 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: Solomon Henderson killed sixteen year old Joscelyn Correa Escalante Joscelyn 286 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,640 Speaker 1: came to the United States from Guatemala when she was nine. 287 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: She was on the soccer team and she hoped to 288 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: become a doctor. The photo in her obituary is from 289 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:19,119 Speaker 1: hur Quine Sanieira. They were so much more than that. 290 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: Of course, those few small details don't capture the depth 291 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,959 Speaker 1: of what was lost. But I only know as much 292 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 1: about these victims as their families shared with the media 293 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: or wrote in their obituaries. I had to try to 294 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: learn something about who they were. They were real people, 295 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: people who were loved, people who had passions and struggles 296 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 1: and dreams, people with so much life left to live, 297 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:52,240 Speaker 1: and that can't be allowed to get lost in this 298 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:57,880 Speaker 1: story of contagious, hateful violence, violence seemingly for the sake 299 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: of violence alone. The way they died was meaningless, but 300 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: their deaths weren't, and their lives weren't. And selfishly, I 301 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: had to see their faces, smiling and alive. It's the 302 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: only way to push out the images of things I 303 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: wish I hadn't seen. After Solomon Henderson carried out his 304 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: attack at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, two documents surfaced. 305 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 1: One was a manifesto fifty one pages long. The other 306 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:43,959 Speaker 1: was nearly three hundred pages of his online diary covering 307 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: the months leading up to the attack. Both documents are 308 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 1: full of links, screenshots, memes, selfies, copied sections of other texts, 309 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,640 Speaker 1: and any truth they hold is buried in so many 310 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: layers of irony and inside jokes from incredibly insular online 311 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: communities that it's hard to take much away from them. 312 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: It is a manifesto and a diary, That's what the 313 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: documents are. But reading those documents it felt like I 314 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:23,159 Speaker 1: spent most of the day reading a child's suicide note, 315 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: because that's really what they are. Like Arta Kasukia Team, 316 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: like Urai Krazik, like Samantha Rupnow Solomon Henderson was struggling 317 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: with thoughts of suicide. His diary starts in October of 318 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, three months before he died. It opens 319 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:50,960 Speaker 1: with quote, I'm burning with hate. Hate will change the world. 320 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 1: An entry later in the evening that same day includes 321 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: the line quote the only good nd word is a 322 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:06,639 Speaker 1: dead end word, and that includes me, Solomon Henderson. It 323 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 1: may surprise you to hear was black. He knew this 324 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: meant he couldn't be made a Saint pterogram. Saints have 325 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,440 Speaker 1: to be white, but he wanted to do it anyway. 326 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 1: He wanted to be like his heroes, and he wanted 327 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:30,399 Speaker 1: to inspire more violence. Andy wanted to be dead. A 328 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: few days later, he wrote, I'm perfect for this. I 329 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: have no faith in humanity. He doesn't say yet what 330 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: this is, but it's the same it he meant when 331 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: he told Samantha up now to live stream it. It's 332 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: clear that he was already planning a shooting, and that 333 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:56,159 Speaker 1: he had been for months. The same week he started 334 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 1: keeping the diary, he pulled a box cutter on another 335 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: student at school and was spended for two days. He 336 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,679 Speaker 1: was charged with attempted reckless endangerment, but was placed in 337 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: a diversion program instead of being prosecuted. On December sixteenth, 338 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, at two am, he wrote in the diary, 339 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: when I think about what I'm going to do, I 340 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: get sad seeing and reading kids and adults before who 341 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: did similar attacks. The loneliness, the fact we had no 342 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: other choice, no help, just nothing. So like I said, 343 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,400 Speaker 1: it's clear that he'd already been planning to do something. 344 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: He'd had the idea in his head long before what 345 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,239 Speaker 1: happened later that day, but after Samantha Upnow's attack, he 346 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: became fixated on her, and his resolve to carry out 347 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:57,000 Speaker 1: his attack intensified significantly. Later that evening, he wrote in 348 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: the diary, holy shit, the New School shooter followed me, 349 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: and he pasted in screenshots of her account before it 350 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 1: was deleted, showing that they did indeed follow each other. 351 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: On December eighteenth, two days after she died, he wrote, 352 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:19,640 Speaker 1: She's stuck in my head. The next day, he created 353 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 1: a new Discord server. The portions of that server that 354 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: I've been able to view don't show very many messages 355 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: prior to the day he died, but based on the 356 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,720 Speaker 1: reactions from the other users, it appears they all understood 357 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: when he invited them to the server that its purpose 358 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:39,760 Speaker 1: was for them to be able to access the live 359 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: stream on the day he decided to do it. Creating 360 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: the server was a concrete step taken toward the attack, 361 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: and it was directly motivated by his new obsession with Repnow, 362 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: who he refers to as Saint Tris Repnow in both 363 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: his diary and his manifesto. At the end of the manifesto, 364 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: in a section titled final remarks, Henderson wrote, I was 365 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,840 Speaker 1: so miserable I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn't 366 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 1: take it anymore. I'm a worthless subhuman, a living, breathing disgrace. 367 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: That all changed once I read Urikraje's manifesto and the 368 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: English edition Mass Cleaner Handbook. He's referring to the Bradoslava 369 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: shooter's manifesto and the document written by Arta Kasukia Team Mack. 370 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,920 Speaker 1: When I originally read Kasukya Team's manifesto in August, I 371 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: had to copy and paste the Turkish text and to 372 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: Google translate one paragraph at a time. The English edition 373 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: he's talking about was posted online by that mysterious user 374 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: calling himself Hansen. Henderson's manifesto ends with this quote, I 375 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 1: take great pride in the fact that the people before 376 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:05,040 Speaker 1: and after me will commit similar acts, not only in 377 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: the USA, but all over the world. I hope you 378 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:16,400 Speaker 1: all enjoyed the broadcast After the shooting at Antioch High 379 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: School on January twenty second, twenty twenty five, people on 380 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 1: Twitter noticed something. They found his account. He'd been mutual 381 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: followers with rupp Now and interacted with her on the 382 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: day of the shooting. Several users had said back in 383 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: December that the authorities should follow up with him specifically 384 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: based on those posts. In January, at least one person 385 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: posted that they'd gone to the trouble of submitting an 386 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: official FBI tip the month prior. It's not clear if 387 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: the tip was even made, or if anyone followed up 388 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: on it, or if the authorities had Henderson on their 389 00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: radar at all. Well, it's not clear if he on 390 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,440 Speaker 1: their radar in January of twenty twenty five, because the 391 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: authorities had been in contact with Solomon Henderson several times. 392 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: He was arrested in twenty twenty when he was just thirteen, 393 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 1: after his mother called the police to report that he'd 394 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: run away after punching her in the face and hitting 395 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: her with a chair. In November of twenty twenty three, 396 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: he was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a miner 397 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: after downloading child sexual abuse material. There aren't any more 398 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: details provided in the reporting on this. He was a 399 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 1: miner himself, just sixteen at the time, but child sexual 400 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: abuse material is always illegal for anyone to have for 401 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 1: any reason, and it's also rampant in the same online communities. 402 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:54,480 Speaker 1: The traffic and gore videos and mass shooting warship as 403 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: a miner. His court record is not open for public inspection, 404 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: but news outlets report that he was court ordered to 405 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,600 Speaker 1: have no access to the internet except for as needed 406 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: for schoolwork, but it's not clear what the duration of 407 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: that sentence would have been. At some point in twenty 408 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: twenty three, the Nashville Police took two guns away from 409 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: the home, but police will only say that the guns 410 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:21,400 Speaker 1: belonged to an adult, but they can't release any more 411 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: details about why they were called to the house in 412 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: the first place because it involved a minor. And then 413 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: in October of twenty twenty four, he was arrested for 414 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: pulling a knife on a girl at school on the 415 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: day of the shooting. In January, he was dropped off 416 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: at school late. He'd spent all morning at court with 417 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 1: his mother. As part of the diversion program he'd been 418 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: put into for that charge, he had to sign paperwork 419 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: acknowledging that he was court ordered not to possess any 420 00:31:54,080 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: guns or ammunition, so there were warning signs they knew 421 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,680 Speaker 1: who he was. He wasn't allowed online, and he wasn't 422 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: allowed to touch a gun, and the cops had previously 423 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: removed all of the guns from his home. Doesn't seem 424 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: to have made a difference, and while the cops may 425 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: have missed some of the red flags in Solomon Henderson's 426 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: final days, they did show some initiative. The day after 427 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: Repnew's death, authorities in California detained a twenty year old 428 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:33,040 Speaker 1: man named Alexander Paffendorf. It would take months to get 429 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: records from the various platforms where Repnow had been posting 430 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: and messaging in order to see the full scope of 431 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: her online communications, but her messages with Paffendorf were seen 432 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: by agents immediately, and those messages were very concerning. Apparently 433 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: the pair had been messaging in the days leading up 434 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: to the attack. It isn't entirely clear to me, based 435 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: on the reporting that I could find, if Pafendorf had 436 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: specific prior knowledge of the shooting, like an actual time, date, 437 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: and place, but they had been exchanging fairly explicit messages 438 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: about their shared intent to carry out a mass shooting 439 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 1: in the near future. His messages to her contained details 440 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: of a plan to attack a federal building using guns 441 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 1: and explosives. The FBI acted quickly, and they arrived at 442 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:30,480 Speaker 1: his home with guns drawn. The very next day, when 443 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: he was interviewed by FBI agents, he admitted to exchanging 444 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: messages with Rupnow, but he wasn't charged with a crime. Instead, 445 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: the Carlsbad, California Police Department filed an application for a 446 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,280 Speaker 1: gun violence emergency protective Order, and they placed him on 447 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:53,440 Speaker 1: a psychiatric hold. It turned out that Alexander Paffendorf didn't 448 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: own any guns. He had no guns or bomb making 449 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: materials at all. He'd just been trying to impress a 450 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: teenage girl online. The two talked online quite a bit, 451 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: chatting about their suicidal thoughts, their white supremacist beliefs, and 452 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 1: their plans to murder as many people as possible, but 453 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: he claims he didn't mean it. He apologized in court, 454 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,840 Speaker 1: saying he'd been attempting to pursue a romantic relationship with 455 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: the girl and never had any intention of purchasing any 456 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: weapons or following through on the things they talked about. 457 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:36,400 Speaker 1: Maybe he assumed she didn't mean it either. No criminal 458 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: charges were filed against Paffendorff, and a judge in San 459 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: Diego ruled in April that he will be legally barred 460 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: from owning a gun until at least twenty twenty eight 461 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: It's not entirely clear if he knew she was only fifteen, 462 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,879 Speaker 1: but given the nature of the online spaces they were in, 463 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: I would bet that he did, and Alexander Paffendorff was 464 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: knocked Samantha Rupnow's only online boyfriend. That six page document 465 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:24,279 Speaker 1: she posted just before the shooting was locked. It was 466 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: a link to a Google doc that she'd forgotten to 467 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: make publicly accessible. Unlike Artikazu Yeteam, she hadn't prepared a 468 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,759 Speaker 1: mass shooter's press kit and left it with a co conspirator, 469 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,319 Speaker 1: so at first it seemed like no one would ever 470 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: know what was in the manifesto. Within hours, though, a 471 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 1: Canadian woman named Anna Slats claimed to have made contact 472 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:56,439 Speaker 1: with the shooter's boyfriend. Slats is a journalist, I guess. 473 00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, she was the editor of her college 474 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,879 Speaker 1: newspaper until she was forced to step down after making 475 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: the editorial decision to publish a racist screed from a 476 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:11,359 Speaker 1: no neo Nazi. She worked briefly for the far right, 477 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,759 Speaker 1: virulently islamophobic outlet Rebel News, and sometimes wrote for The 478 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: Post Millennial. In twenty twenty two, she founded her own 479 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:23,839 Speaker 1: outlet that focuses almost exclusively on stirring a hatred towards 480 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: trans women, and that may have been what sparked Slats's 481 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:32,400 Speaker 1: initial interest in the story. There were rumors in the 482 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:37,279 Speaker 1: immediate aftermath of the shooting that Repnow was transgender. She 483 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: wasn't by all accounts, she was a heterosexual cisgender female. 484 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: But regardless of what drew Slats to the story, she 485 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: managed to convince a user who claimed to be Repnow's 486 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 1: long distance boyfriend to share a copy of the manifesto 487 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:58,280 Speaker 1: with her. She then proceeded to water mark each page 488 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,680 Speaker 1: of the manifesto with her own name before posting the 489 00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 1: images to Twitter. Now, as a journalist, I understand the 490 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,000 Speaker 1: frustration at having your work stolen and your research used 491 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:16,319 Speaker 1: without credit. I do. It's happened to me too many 492 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:20,279 Speaker 1: times to count. But I can't, for the life of me, 493 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:24,840 Speaker 1: even begin to imagine these series of thoughts and ideas 494 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:27,839 Speaker 1: that would have to pass through your head to lead 495 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: you to a place where you were watermarking your name 496 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:35,840 Speaker 1: onto the pages of a manifesto of a dead child 497 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:41,279 Speaker 1: hours after the author shot up a school. That makes 498 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: me nauseous but like I said, journalist is kind of 499 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 1: a loose term here. The boyfriend, who's never been named publicly, 500 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:56,799 Speaker 1: says Repno sent him the manifesto on WhatsApp about an 501 00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:00,120 Speaker 1: hour before the shooting, but that he didn't see it 502 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 1: until hours later. A classmate says Repnow had talked about 503 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,600 Speaker 1: having an internet boyfriend who lived in Germany, and that 504 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 1: appears to be the same individual who provided the manifesto. 505 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:16,880 Speaker 1: We don't know if he's actually a teenager or actually 506 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,240 Speaker 1: in Germany, but these are the elements of his identity 507 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 1: that he claims, and that she was telling people in 508 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 1: her life. The unnamed Twitter user slat spoke to said 509 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: they'd been talking for about two years and he did 510 00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: seem to know a significant amount of information about Repnow's 511 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: home life. So she sent the manifesto to her German boyfriend. 512 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 1: She exchanged murder fantasies with Alexander Paffendorff, but there was 513 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 1: at least one more internet boyfriend chatting about mass shootings 514 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,759 Speaker 1: with Samantha Repnow. The first two internet boyfriends came to 515 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:57,439 Speaker 1: light on the day of the shooting. FBI agents saw 516 00:38:57,480 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: the messages between Repno and Paffendorf as soon as they 517 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: took custody of her phone, and the unnamed German boyfriend 518 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,360 Speaker 1: outed himself in a series of tweets and ultimately shared 519 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:12,640 Speaker 1: the manifesto with Anna Slats. The third man's existence didn't 520 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:14,799 Speaker 1: come to light until he was arrested at the end 521 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,799 Speaker 1: of April twenty twenty five, four months after Repnow's death. 522 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,360 Speaker 1: It took that long for the very slow wheels of 523 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,880 Speaker 1: the justice system to turn. According to the charging documents 524 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:31,600 Speaker 1: in Damian Allen's case, the FBI searched Repnow's cell phone 525 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:36,000 Speaker 1: and home almost immediately, but they didn't even apply for 526 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,960 Speaker 1: the search warrants for her TikTok accounts until over a 527 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:44,920 Speaker 1: month later, on January thirtieth, twenty twenty five. It's useless 528 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: to speculate about why that might be. Maybe that's just 529 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:50,400 Speaker 1: how long it took to get around to the paperwork. 530 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,080 Speaker 1: Maybe that's how long it took for them to figure 531 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 1: out which accounts belonged to her. It's common for people 532 00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,920 Speaker 1: active in online extremist communities to cycle through a ca 533 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 1: counts pretty quickly, getting banned for posting something hideous, making 534 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: a new account, reconnecting with old followers, getting banned again, 535 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:11,799 Speaker 1: and so on forever. So maybe it took a little 536 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 1: bit of legwork to know what to even ask for 537 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:18,680 Speaker 1: when drafting them warrant. I'm willing to bet that played 538 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:24,040 Speaker 1: a role here, But the timing does raise an uncomfortable question. 539 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 1: Had they not planned on looking at everything, they'd gone 540 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: in guns blazing to grab Alexander Paffendorff right away, and 541 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:39,760 Speaker 1: that turned out to be a situation that was admittedly gross, 542 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,320 Speaker 1: but not life threatening. There was no mass murder in 543 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,480 Speaker 1: the making there. He was just a guy with violent 544 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: fantasies who wanted to date a child. Again disgusting, abhorrent, 545 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: but he was lying about planning a mass shooting. He 546 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: didn't even own a gun. So maybe it took the 547 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:07,160 Speaker 1: entire six weeks between December sixteenth, when the shooting occurred 548 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:10,720 Speaker 1: in January thirtieth and the war it was signed. Maybe 549 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,800 Speaker 1: it took six weeks to identify all the TikTok accounts 550 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:19,640 Speaker 1: connected to rupnow. But maybe Solomon Henderson's attack on January 551 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:24,480 Speaker 1: twenty second played a part in that timeline. Paffendorf was bluffing, 552 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,200 Speaker 1: But after the shooting in Tennessee, it was all too 553 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:33,359 Speaker 1: clear that not everyone shed talked to online was some 554 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:38,319 Speaker 1: of them were deadly serious. Either way, we'll never know, 555 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,640 Speaker 1: and it took TikTok two months to respond to the 556 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:46,799 Speaker 1: court order to produce those records. So it wasn't until 557 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 1: April of twenty twenty five that FBI agents in Milwaukee 558 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: made an urgent call to the FBI Field office in Miami. 559 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:56,359 Speaker 1: They needed to get in touch with the Palm Beach 560 00:41:56,440 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 1: County Sheriff's Office as soon as possible. One of the 561 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,400 Speaker 1: men who'd spent all summer chatting with Rough now appeared 562 00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:11,000 Speaker 1: to be one of their deputies. After what must have 563 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 1: been a very tense call between the FBI and the 564 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:17,759 Speaker 1: Internal Affairs Bureau in Palm Beach, it was determined that 565 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 1: the accounts did belong to Damian Allen, But despite the 566 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:26,000 Speaker 1: scores of photos of Allan posing in his apparently very 567 00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 1: real Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office uniform, he'd never been 568 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:35,280 Speaker 1: employed there or by any law enforcement agency. When police 569 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:39,360 Speaker 1: searched his home, they found eighteen guns, twelve thousand rounds 570 00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:44,640 Speaker 1: of ammunition, and a variety of authentic or realistic replicas 571 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,799 Speaker 1: of uniforms for various law enforcement agencies and branches of 572 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:55,319 Speaker 1: the military. According to the charging documents, Damian Allen communicated 573 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: with Samantha upp Now regularly between May and September of 574 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,520 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. The documents only contain excerpts of their 575 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:06,520 Speaker 1: conversations over TikTok DM, but they exchanged usernames for a 576 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:11,359 Speaker 1: variety of other platforms, including Snapchat and discord. In one 577 00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:15,440 Speaker 1: message in May of twenty twenty four, Repnow tells Alan quote, 578 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,080 Speaker 1: I wanted to do a black church that was near me, 579 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 1: but you know. He responded by telling her about his gear, 580 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: describing his bulletproof best, his collection of high capacity magazines, 581 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: and stockpile of flash banks and smoke grenades. Repnow, who 582 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 1: was at the time just fourteen years old, says she 583 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:41,040 Speaker 1: only had access to her dad's handguns. In the middle 584 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: of this conversation about guns, Alan wrote quote, once you 585 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:49,920 Speaker 1: get to a point, there's no going back. And he 586 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 1: said he had a plan to strike seven different locations. 587 00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:57,480 Speaker 1: Two weeks later, in another late night conversation about their 588 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:02,239 Speaker 1: plans to carry out mass shootings, Alan wrote, quote, we 589 00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:08,239 Speaker 1: go down together. Twitch. Rup Now replied correct, I love you. 590 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:17,640 Speaker 1: I love you more, Alan wrote. In July, Repnow scolded 591 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:21,279 Speaker 1: Alan for a post he'd made. The post isn't described 592 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: in the affidavit, and his accounts are gone for the 593 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,920 Speaker 1: most part, but it sounds like he'd probably posted one 594 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:30,480 Speaker 1: of those fan edit videos of cut together clips and 595 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:34,720 Speaker 1: photos of different murderers. It's a popular style of content 596 00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:41,480 Speaker 1: in these communities. But Repnow's message admonishes him. She wrote, quote, 597 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: Dylan Cleebold was a Jew, Adam Landsa was a gay pedophile, 598 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,800 Speaker 1: Nick was also a pedophile. The Trump shooter also a Jew. 599 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,520 Speaker 1: Peyton Gendron was in de furryborn which all of that 600 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:56,239 Speaker 1: is disgraceful and disgusting. Looks stuff up before posting it. 601 00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:01,799 Speaker 1: Apparently she thought his taste in my lass shooters was lowbrow. 602 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:06,200 Speaker 1: By September of twenty twenty four, they seem to have 603 00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: broken up. The charging documents only contained snippets, so there's 604 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:15,440 Speaker 1: no context, But on September twenty third, rub Now wrote quote, 605 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:20,640 Speaker 1: I know I unadded you, and I apologize. I love 606 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,960 Speaker 1: you and I'm so sorry about all this. I hope 607 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:26,000 Speaker 1: all goes well for you and I don't do what 608 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:30,279 Speaker 1: I did again. A few minutes later, she followed up, 609 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:33,680 Speaker 1: writing I will always care and love you, even if 610 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:35,879 Speaker 1: I'm not right for you. As much as I want 611 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:38,240 Speaker 1: to talk to you every day and hour of my time, 612 00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:40,360 Speaker 1: I can't because I don't want to harm you in 613 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:44,920 Speaker 1: any way. A few days later, Alan messaged her to 614 00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,560 Speaker 1: say his other account had been banned and asked her 615 00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:52,160 Speaker 1: to Adam on Snapchat. It is possible they continued chatting 616 00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:56,239 Speaker 1: on another platform. The Palm Beach Sheriff's Detectives affidavit only 617 00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:59,640 Speaker 1: describes the communication he reviewed from the direct messages on TikTok, 618 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:04,200 Speaker 1: and there's no allegation made in the affidavit that they 619 00:46:04,239 --> 00:46:08,840 Speaker 1: believe Alan had specific prior knowledge of the shooting that 620 00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:13,000 Speaker 1: Rucknow carried out in December, and all mention of communications 621 00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:16,280 Speaker 1: between the two of them stops after September of twenty 622 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:21,000 Speaker 1: twenty four, three months before the shooting. The latter half 623 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:25,360 Speaker 1: of the affidavit is just dedicated to describing the hundreds 624 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:28,920 Speaker 1: of Instagram, TikTok and discord posts he made pretending to 625 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:33,480 Speaker 1: be a sheriff's deputy, which again he was not. But 626 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:36,239 Speaker 1: there is one rather cryptic line at the end of 627 00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:40,640 Speaker 1: the affidavit quote. It should be noted that it appears 628 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:44,880 Speaker 1: Alan stopped communicating in his chat before Rucknow executed her 629 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:49,920 Speaker 1: plan and has not communicated again since. Alan was talking 630 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:56,120 Speaker 1: to numerous members prior to the attack almost daily, so 631 00:46:56,200 --> 00:47:01,320 Speaker 1: he stopped posting in his own discord channel right before 632 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:06,160 Speaker 1: Rupp now carried out her attack. He'd been posting in 633 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:12,080 Speaker 1: that discord constantly, and then suddenly he stopped. He went 634 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:16,360 Speaker 1: dark online. There's no mention of anything he posted anywhere 635 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:20,440 Speaker 1: after December of twenty twenty four. I found a handful 636 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:24,359 Speaker 1: of posts made in January February of this year on 637 00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:27,560 Speaker 1: TikTok and Instagram accounts that he used for posting pictures 638 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,880 Speaker 1: of his cop role play server in Grand Theft Auto. 639 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:34,960 Speaker 1: But his real accounts, his personal accounts, his accounts where 640 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:41,240 Speaker 1: he expressed himself politically, those went away. Was Damian Allen 641 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,080 Speaker 1: actually preparing to carry out a mass shooting of his 642 00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,480 Speaker 1: own or was he just another grown man telling a 643 00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:50,719 Speaker 1: fourteen year old girl he loved her while encouraging her 644 00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:56,319 Speaker 1: to kill the difference between Damian Allen and Alexander Paffendorff 645 00:47:56,560 --> 00:48:01,640 Speaker 1: is the guns. Pafendorf was talking and shit, he didn't 646 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:06,040 Speaker 1: actually have so much as a bullet in his possession. Alan, however, 647 00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:08,920 Speaker 1: had so much ammunition in his home that the initial 648 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:13,680 Speaker 1: reports just listed it as three hundred pounds of bullets 649 00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:17,360 Speaker 1: because it was easier to weigh them than to count them. 650 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,800 Speaker 1: He also had a closet full of police and military 651 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:24,719 Speaker 1: uniforms that were so realistic the FBI thought he was 652 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:30,000 Speaker 1: a real cop. It's impossible to know what might have happened, 653 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:34,160 Speaker 1: but his fascination with both mass shootings and fourteen year 654 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:37,280 Speaker 1: old girls seems to date back at least a couple 655 00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:41,480 Speaker 1: of years. In October of twenty twenty one, when Alan 656 00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:44,440 Speaker 1: was a nineteen year old high school senior, he was 657 00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:48,240 Speaker 1: charged with lewde and lascivious molestation of a victim under sixteen. 658 00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:51,120 Speaker 1: I will note for the record that he was not 659 00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:54,080 Speaker 1: actually convicted on this charge. He was placed in a 660 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,880 Speaker 1: pre trial diversion program that required him to complete a 661 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:02,200 Speaker 1: mental health evaluation and prohibited him from possessing firearms for 662 00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:06,440 Speaker 1: a period of time. The case was dismissed after he 663 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:11,000 Speaker 1: successfully completed the diversion program in twenty twenty three, which 664 00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,759 Speaker 1: is weird because he was posting videos of himself all 665 00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,560 Speaker 1: over social media throughout twenty twenty two and twenty twenty 666 00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:23,319 Speaker 1: three of himself handling firearms, so I guess this one 667 00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:28,319 Speaker 1: just slipped through the cracks. So to be clear, Technically, 668 00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:32,719 Speaker 1: he was not convicted of groping a fourteen year old 669 00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:38,880 Speaker 1: girl's breast, but the affidavit is interesting either way. The 670 00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:42,600 Speaker 1: victim told police she'd noticed Alan watching her during gym class. 671 00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:46,720 Speaker 1: After jim class, he followed her as she walked to lunch. 672 00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:51,240 Speaker 1: At some point, she asked him what sort of vibe 673 00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:54,880 Speaker 1: he was going for with his outfit, and he responded 674 00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:58,879 Speaker 1: that he was trying to achieve a quote nineteen ninety nine, 675 00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:03,000 Speaker 1: Columbine Vine like a black trench coat with stuff strapped 676 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:07,120 Speaker 1: to me. This obviously made the girl a little uncomfortable, 677 00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:12,399 Speaker 1: so she turned to walk away. He followed her, then 678 00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:15,160 Speaker 1: grabbed her by the shoulder and slid his hand down 679 00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:21,000 Speaker 1: her chest, grabbing her breast. Alan told the responding officer 680 00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:23,480 Speaker 1: that the girl was making up the stuff about him 681 00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:26,239 Speaker 1: touching her because she'd been scared of what he said 682 00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:32,239 Speaker 1: about Columbine. So he does admit that he told a 683 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:35,520 Speaker 1: much younger student that he was costplaying as a school shooter. 684 00:50:36,719 --> 00:50:41,160 Speaker 1: He just denies that he touched her. Damian Allen is 685 00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:45,200 Speaker 1: currently being held without bond in Palm Beach County. I'm 686 00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,359 Speaker 1: interested to see if his case turns up any new 687 00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:50,160 Speaker 1: evidence about the online spaces where he may have first 688 00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:53,839 Speaker 1: met rap Now. I seriously doubt he just messaged her 689 00:50:53,880 --> 00:51:00,640 Speaker 1: on TikTok at random. They overlapped somewhere. He's an indictment 690 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:04,560 Speaker 1: of a man named Anna Ruth Koposwami in Pennsylvania offers 691 00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:10,320 Speaker 1: a hint that only raises more questions. Kapasami was an 692 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:15,080 Speaker 1: avid consumer of Terogram content, but he was arrested for 693 00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:19,680 Speaker 1: the possession of child sexual abuse material, material that he'd 694 00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:24,640 Speaker 1: solicited from a teenage girl that he was grooming online. 695 00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:28,399 Speaker 1: The victim in this case lived in Georgia. Kawasami lived 696 00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:32,360 Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, and in filings in his case, the government 697 00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:35,920 Speaker 1: notes that the victim posted on Instagram that she'd been 698 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:40,560 Speaker 1: friends with Robnow, and while his charges are related to 699 00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:43,480 Speaker 1: the allegations that he coerced a minor into sending him 700 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:49,440 Speaker 1: sexual photographs, their conversations weren't just about sex. He was 701 00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:52,399 Speaker 1: also talking to her about how to commit and get 702 00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:57,600 Speaker 1: away with murders. I couldn't tell you exactly how many 703 00:51:57,600 --> 00:51:59,879 Speaker 1: men are online right now trying to convince a teen 704 00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:04,840 Speaker 1: to commit random, unprovoked acts of lethal violence. But it 705 00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:07,600 Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a coincidence that these girls encountered each 706 00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:14,239 Speaker 1: other online before it turns out, this wasn't really a 707 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:18,680 Speaker 1: story about Damian Allen at all, was it. I could 708 00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:21,719 Speaker 1: have written a few thousand words about Alan's tragic backstory. 709 00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:25,400 Speaker 1: I certainly wasted enough time digging it up, trying to 710 00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:28,640 Speaker 1: fill in the blanks and court records and old Facebook statuses. 711 00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:33,840 Speaker 1: His parents seemed to have had a pretty violent relationship. 712 00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:37,400 Speaker 1: His father was charged several times with things like domestic 713 00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:41,360 Speaker 1: violence and child neglect, but it never seemed to stick. 714 00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:45,840 Speaker 1: His mom left him with his father, taking his baby 715 00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:47,600 Speaker 1: brother with her when she moved in with a new 716 00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:51,440 Speaker 1: boyfriend and had another son. His mom was in and 717 00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:53,640 Speaker 1: out of rehab a few times before ending up in 718 00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:57,920 Speaker 1: prison in twenty seventeen for sex trafficking a friend's teenage daughter. 719 00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,799 Speaker 1: Seems to be when he started pretending to be a 720 00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:06,040 Speaker 1: cop online. But none of that really matters, does it. 721 00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:09,960 Speaker 1: I don't know when he started fantasizing about mass murder 722 00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:12,640 Speaker 1: or how he met the murderer he said he loved. 723 00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:16,480 Speaker 1: I don't know if he was lying to impress a child, 724 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:19,000 Speaker 1: or if he really was going to do something with 725 00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:24,520 Speaker 1: all those guns, maybe he was all talk, or maybe 726 00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:26,719 Speaker 1: he was going to be the next link in the 727 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:32,440 Speaker 1: chain reaction of violence that started in an online chat room. 728 00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:37,799 Speaker 1: But if not him, who will it be. You're right, 729 00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:44,080 Speaker 1: Grayjake is dead. Samantha up Now is dead. Solomon Henderson 730 00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:48,600 Speaker 1: is dead. All three teenagers took their own lives after 731 00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:51,719 Speaker 1: carrying out a shooting at the urging of people they 732 00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:57,360 Speaker 1: met online. Between the three of them, they killed five people, 733 00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:04,000 Speaker 1: but Ta Graham killed eight. They were sucked into online 734 00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:08,799 Speaker 1: communities steeped in gore, communities that celebrated death and made 735 00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:11,000 Speaker 1: them believe that the only way their lives would have 736 00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:14,600 Speaker 1: any meaning is if they died doing something too horrible 737 00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:20,000 Speaker 1: to forget. Bartika Sukia Team was arrested before he could 738 00:54:20,040 --> 00:54:22,800 Speaker 1: attempt to take his own life, and he now faces 739 00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:26,880 Speaker 1: over one hundred years in prison. Dallas Humber and Matthew 740 00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:30,360 Speaker 1: Allison are awaiting trial for their role in encouraging these attacks. 741 00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:35,640 Speaker 1: Terrogram has been designated as a terrorist organization. At least 742 00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:38,160 Speaker 1: a dozen people associated with the group have been arrested 743 00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:47,200 Speaker 1: around the world. Terogram is dead. Kind of but it's 744 00:54:47,239 --> 00:54:51,279 Speaker 1: not really something you can kill. It can kill you, 745 00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:57,480 Speaker 1: but you can't kill an idea. This particular network operating 746 00:54:57,560 --> 00:55:01,160 Speaker 1: under this name and with these particulars leaders, that's gone. 747 00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:07,600 Speaker 1: The virus is still spreading in the dark corners of 748 00:55:07,600 --> 00:55:11,400 Speaker 1: the Internet. People are posting fan adits of mass shooting 749 00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:16,160 Speaker 1: live streams and egging each other on, asking each other 750 00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:19,000 Speaker 1: who is going to be the one to get the 751 00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:38,520 Speaker 1: next high score. Weird Little Guys see production of Cool 752 00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:42,160 Speaker 1: Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's research, written and recorded by 753 00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:45,520 Speaker 1: me while I hunger. Our executive producers are Sophie Lichtterman 754 00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:48,400 Speaker 1: and Robert Evans. The show is edited by the wildly 755 00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:51,920 Speaker 1: talented Rory Gagan. The theme music was composed by Brad Dickert. 756 00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,000 Speaker 1: You can email me at weirdle Guys podcast at gmail 757 00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,240 Speaker 1: dot com. I will definitely read it, but I probably 758 00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:00,719 Speaker 1: won't answer it. It's nothing personal. You can exchange conspiracy 759 00:56:00,719 --> 00:56:02,640 Speaker 1: theories about the show with other listeners on the Weird 760 00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:06,239 Speaker 1: Little Guys subreddit. Just don't post anything that's going to 761 00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:11,560 Speaker 1: make you one of my red little guys. This episode 762 00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:15,520 Speaker 1: contained discussion of suicide and child sexual abuse material. If 763 00:56:15,520 --> 00:56:17,960 Speaker 1: you're experiencing thoughts of suicide, you can dial nine to 764 00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:20,160 Speaker 1: eight eight in the United States and Canada to reach 765 00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:23,839 Speaker 1: the Suicide and Crisis Helpline. If you have encountered child 766 00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:27,440 Speaker 1: sexual abuse material online, believe someone may be coercing minors 767 00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,640 Speaker 1: into producing sexually explicit images, or believe a child is 768 00:56:30,680 --> 00:56:34,000 Speaker 1: being sexually abused, report it to the National Center for 769 00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:39,399 Speaker 1: Missing and Exploited Children at Report dot cyber tip dot org. 770 00:56:40,280 --> 00:56:49,640 Speaker 1: That's report dot C y B e R tip dot org.