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Press Release

Centerville man arrested for making online threats to commit school shooting

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio

DAYTON, Ohio – FBI agents have arrested a Centerville, Ohio, man on federal charges related to online threats to commit a mass shooting at a California school.

 

Alex Jaques, 21, has been charged federally with making interstate threats.

 

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, on Nov. 15, the FBI National Threat Operations Center received a tip about a video Jaques allegedly posted on YouTube.

 

In the video, Jaques allegedly uses multiple firearms to shoot a Chromebook computer and threatens to attack Washington Middle School in Salinas, California. The Chromebook has a Washington Middle School sticker affixed to it. The video shows an uzi-style weapon being discharged in rapid succession and multiple shots fired from a rifle-style weapon.

 

Law enforcement communicated with school officials in Salinas, California, and discovered that Jaques had been a student at a school within the same county.

 

Other videos on Jaques’s YouTube page allegedly depict the defendant driving while shooting a pistol at street signs.

 

While executing a search warrant at Jaques’s residence today, FBI agents seized eight firearms, including an uzi-style weapon.

 

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; J. William Rivers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorneys Christina Mahy is representing the United States in this case.

 

A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

 

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Updated November 21, 2022

Topic
Cybercrime