A Maryland high school student was arrested and charged with threat of mass violence after police say they discovered evidence revealing the teen had plans to commit a school shooting, authorities said Thursday.
The arrest on Wednesday came after authorities discovered a 129-page document they say was written by 18-year-old Alex Ye, the Montgomery County Department of Police said in a news release Thursday.
Authorities learned of the writings following an exchange Ye had via Instagram messaging with an unidentified person who felt a school shooting was “imminent,” according to the teenager’s arrest warrant. The unidentified person knew Ye from an inpatient treatment at a local psychiatric facility, the warrant says.
Ye referred to the writings as “his memoir,” which begins with a disclaimer that it is a work of fiction, the arrest warrant says.
That implies the are justifications for shooting up a school that are valid.
There are no such justifications, so the reason doesn’t matter
The reason matters for the purposes of prevention in future cases. Yeah in the case in question the reason is irrelevant although it probably should be known.
I guess I prefer that manifestos are not released immediately or to the general public due to copycats. Only investigators or school administrators need that information quickly.
I find all forms of censorship bad tbh. So I’d prefer they are released so we can learn from and help people like this better in the future to prevent more attacks. But it’s a double sided issue. Similar to documents on how to make explosives.
But copycat phenomena is a real thing.
It shouldn’t be illegal to access the information, it just doesn’t need to be shouted out by the talking heads the day it is found
Agreed. 👍