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OAN’s James Meyers
3:22 PM – Friday, April 19, 2024
A Maryland high school student is facing charges over allegedly planning a school shooting to become famous, according to police.
Alex Ye, 18, of Rockville, wanted to carry out two school shootings. He outlined those plans in a 129-page document that a tipster flagged to authorities, officials said on Thursday.
The 18-year-old was arrested Wednesday on a charge of threats of mass violence, the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) said in a statement on Thursday.
“In the document, Ye writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act. Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he wants to be famous,” police said.
According to the charging documents, a witness, referred to as Witness-One, contacted Baltimore Police and said Ye sent him an Instagram message about how he just finished writing a book. According to court documents, the 18-chapter book was a fictional story about a high school shooting.
The witness said that the book suggested that the shooting was going to take place “the next day,” and told police there were “striking similarities between the main character (James Wang) and Ye.”
In his writings, Ye allegedly explained that he wanted to attack his former elementary school because “little kids make easier targets” and also “strategized on how to access the easiest classrooms in his high school,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters in Gaithersburg on Friday.
“This situation highlights the critical importance of vigilance and community involvement in preventing potential tragedies,” Jones said, adding that “a potentially catastrophic event was prevented” by the brave witness and collaborative efforts by authorities.
Despite these chilling details, Ye wrote that his real desire was to become a serial killer.
“Ye also wrote that he wanted to become a serial killer instead of a mass murderer because serial killers are romanticized a lot more,” Jones added.
Meanwhile, police have been investigating Ye since March and only carried out the arrest due to the fear he might actually go through with the shooting.
“It’s not our goal to make an arrest in every case of a threat,” Jones said, adding that his agency has worked on 140 tips of possible school violence this academic year alone.
“But this case is different. This case is entirely different — that takes it to a different level. It was a concerned witness who brought this matter to light by reporting the suspect’s manifesto to authorities.”
Investigators also found search history, drawings and documents “related to mass threats of violence,” according to the statement.
The charging documents also state that Ye was hospitalized in December 2022, for threatening to “shoot up a school.”
He was also allegedly set for release in January 2023, however, it was determined that he was still preoccupied with explosives, self-harm, and school shootings.
Then after an emergency evaluation, Ye was referred to a crisis center by a Wootton High School therapist after Montgomery Police learned he had purchased a BB gun for the purpose of “suicide by cop.”
Ye was taken into custody and charged with threats of mass violence. He is currently being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, where he awaits a bond hearing.
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