Court papers unsealed Tuesday say the plotters were disgruntled with the direction of the country and spoke of flying explosives-laden drones and shooting panicked crowd members as they fled.
The FBI obtained encrypted text messages between roughly 20 participants who shared detailed maps of the area and discussed the need for a “safe house” and escape routes after the attack, the documents show. It was unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers came to being able to carry out their plan, which was thwarted last week.
FBI agents learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before the UFC event on the White House’s South Lawn, “and thanks to the rapid action of the FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Director Kash Patel said in a post on X on Tuesday.
Five people were arrested from states including Ohio, Missouri and California, said a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public.
Among those arrested was Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old Ohio man whose mother contacted local law enforcement last week with concerns about his firearms purchases and online communications, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.
An assistant federal public defender assigned to represent Proper, who's charged with crimes including attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Proper admitted in an interview with law enforcement that he participated in the planning of an attack, according to the affidavit, which says some members of the group began communicating with each other last March through a TikTok group called “Vanguard of the Old.”
Some of those involved allegedly planned to travel to Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 12 or 13 to prepare for the attack.
One suspect allegedly told investigators the goal was to target "capitalist elites," "billionaires" or politicians who received donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
