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Teen arrested for planning to shoot up Ohio synagogue

The boy used the Discord platform to share plans to “burn and shoot up” Reform synagogue Temple Israel in Canton, Ohio.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A 13-year-old boy who shared detailed plans in September on Discord for a mass shooting at a reform synagogue in Ohio has been ordered to spend a year on probation as reported by the Canton Repository on Friday.

The teen, who remains anonymous, pleaded “true” which is the term for “guilty” in juvenile court to the misdemeanor charges of inducing panic and disorderly conduct.

The boy used the Discord social media platform to share plans to “burn and shoot up” the Reform synagogue Temple Israel in Canton, south of Akron.

The report reached the Stark County police department on September 7th, and the FBI contacted police about making contact with the suspect who made threats against the place of worship.

When authorities contacted the school system and others in the community, it caused “significant public alarm,” according to the report.

The authorities questioned the suspect in his home and although it wasn’t confirmed whether they found firearms, they did discover “plans and maps of the synagogue made possibly by the suspect and an unknown individual from Washington State sent through the app Discord.”

The teen also admitted that he belonged to many antisemitic groups on Discord.

Stark County Family Court Judge Jim James ordered a year probation for the teen but suspended a 90-day sentence at a juvenile center.

The judge also ruled that the boy wouldn’t be allowed to use the internet without supervision and was required to continue counseling with a licensed therapist.

The teen is also required to read and submit a book report about Carl Lutz, a Swiss diplomat who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust in Budapest, Hungary.

Since the October 7th massacre, there have been 2,000 reported antisemitic incidents in the United States.

Last week, a man shot a gun into the air outside of a synagogue in Albany and yelled, “Free Palestine.”

In November, a synagogue on the West side of Cleveland was vandalized with swastikas.