In the wake of the August 27 Minneapolis, Minnesota, Annunciation Catholic School shooting that killed two and injured 17, the FBI has ramped up its "pre-crime" game. Hours after the Minneapolis horror occurred, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced a possible D.C. mass shooter had been arrested for allegedly posting on social media threatening violence against a community school. The juvenile's home was raided, and multiple weapons were recovered.
Read it Here: Thwarted: White House Reveals Possible School Shooting in D.C. Stopped Just Hours After MN Horror
FBI Head Patel Updates About the ‘Barbaric Attack’ by Transgender Killer in MN Shooting
On Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed that another potential mass shooting against a preschool was thwarted.
FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday revealed that his team stopped a potential mass shooting at a preschool, after a North Carolina man allegedly threatened to massacre a group of 20 black preschoolers.
The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Zachary Charles Newell, was taken into federal custody on Monday and charged with interstate threat to kidnap or injure, according to Fox News. The threat was allegedly made on YouTube on Aug. 27.
Newell posted a comment under the username "CommentatorsHateMe," where he allegedly stated his intention to "shoot up" a preschool, injuring or killing 20 black children. He also made a racist threat online the day before. No specific school was named.
It is apparent that Patel is working to reverse former precedent set by the FBI and local law enforcement. Even with alerts, warnings, and prior behavior, if the suspect's narrative (or ethnicity) did not fit a certain political calculus, any action to try and prevent a potential crime was either slow-rolled and sometimes disregarded entirely. The 2021 King Sooper mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, and the 2022 Buffalo, New York, Tops mass shooting are some examples. In 2019, the FBI was attempting to work with social media platforms to flag users with particular and specific threats of violence toward others, but its attempts were met with resistance by these platforms.
But groups like Instagram and Facebook aren't eager to hand over users' posts to the government, according to tech expert Craig Agranoff.
"A lot of people wouldn't join Twitter if they think that a lot of what they say or do is being monitored," said Agranoff.
Kaplan agrees that some privacy would have to be taken away from social media users, but he thinks that's the only way to stop what he calls America's number one threat.
"Domestic terrorism has become more of the forefront, our national security is more front and center with respect to homegrown, and I hate to say this, United States citizens acting as lone wolves," said Kaplan.
Agranoff agrees that compromises have to be made one way or another.
Six years later, it seems compromises are being made, and Patel is taking online threats, particularly against vulnerable children, seriously.
"Threats of violence against children are beyond unacceptable acts of cowardice," Patel told the outlet. "The FBI worked quickly with our partners in Carteret County [North Carolina] to ensure this individual was taken into custody before he could act.
"Parents should know we will never hesitate to respond with urgency to protect their kids, their schools, and their communities," he added.
Editor's Note: The days of lawlessness in Washington, D.C. are over. Thanks to President Trump, our nation's capital will be SAFE once again.
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