(WatchDogReport.org) – A student who identifies as transgender who was arrested and charged over an alleged plot to carry out a mass shooting praised the Nashville mass shooter, according to court documents.
Andrea Ye, an 18-year-old female from Rockville, Maryland, who identifies as a man, also expressed concerns about being misgendered after the planned massacre. Ye wrote a 129-page manifesto laying out the plans for the foiled shooting spree at Thomas Wootton High School in Montgomery County. The Montgomery County Police Department arrested the student on April 17 after investigators uncovered the plot in Ye’s internet searches and writing in which the student discussed the plans and a desire to be famous.
The teenager claimed that the manifesto was “fictional,” but an MCPD officer noted how closely it mirrored actual events and that it was based on “reality” with credible threats of mass murder. Ye, who identifies as Alex, attended Wootton High School online. The manifesto reportedly included a disclaimer claiming that it did not represent the beliefs of the author. Still, a person with whom Ye shared the document contacted authorities because of the striking similarities between the author and the supposedly fictional persona behind the manifesto.
According to court documents, the suspect carried out web searches on multiple mass shootings, such as the 2023 Nashville shooting in which a transgender-identifying shooter killed six people at the Covenant School.
The teenager also wrote about changing their name legally so as not to be “misgendered” in media reports on the planned shooting in the same way that the Nashville shooter was.
In December 2022, the student was hospitalized after threatening to carry out a school shooting. After receiving treatment for suicidal and homicidal ideations, the teenager later returned home and studied remotely. Ye had not attended school in person since that time.
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