DETROIT (AP) — Federal officials say a Michigan man threatened to commit a mass killing at a synagogue on the fifth anniversary of the massacre at two New Zealand mosques by a white supremacist gunman.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says 19-year-old Seann Patrick Pietila of Pickford, Michigan, was arrested Friday and charged with transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure another.
The Detroit News reports he allegedly made social media threats that included comments about neo-Nazi ideology, antisemitism and glorifying mass shootings.
A criminal complaint states FBI agents who searched his home found makeshift plans for killing members of the Shaarey Zedek congregation in East Lansing on March 15, 2024.
The Michigan case focuses on numerous antisemitic social media posts allegedly made by Pietila. Prosecutors say he made apparent references to the New Zealand shooter, who is serving life in prison for killing 51 people and injured 40 others in the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks.
Pietila is being held temporarily without bond pending a detention hearing Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids. If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison.
