FBI arrests neo-Nazi teen planning mass shooting at a Michigan synagogue

The date of the planned attack coincides with the anniversary of the New Zealand mass shooting incident.

By World Israel News Staff

The FBI on Friday arrested a neo-Nazi teenager from Michigan on charges of plotting a mass shooting at a synagogue.

Seann Patrick Pietila, 19 years old, acknowledged that he had uploaded antisemitic content on his Instagram account and applauded other far-right murderers, including the gunmen behind the mass shootings in Norway (2011) and New Zealand (2019).

During a search of Pietila’s residence in Upper Peninsula, federal agents discovered a Nazi flag and an assortment of weapons, including assault rifles, a shotgun, pipe bombs, and Molotov cocktails.

FBI investigators discovered a note on his phone that suggested he planned to attack the Shaarey Zedek Congregation synagogue in East Lansing, Michigan, and the date March 15, 2024, which coincides with the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch, New Zealand mass shooting incident, where a white supremacist killed 51 Muslims.

AntisemitismFBIGun violenceNeo-Nazissynagogue attacks