Global Courant 2023-04-28 21:16:10
The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents has made numerous social media comments over the past six months threatening violence, the Justice Department alleges.
Jack Teixeira, 21, awaits a decision Friday from a federal judge on whether to remain in custody. He is charged with unauthorized retention and disclosure of national defense information and deliberate retention of classified documents.
“A review of data received from a social media platform…indicates that the defendant regularly made comments about violence and murder,” the Justice Department wrote this week in a petition calling for Teixeira to be detained because he has a serious flight risk.
“In November 2022, the defendant stated that if he had his way, he would ‘kill an (expletive) ton of people’ because it would ‘clear the feeble-minded,’” the document read.
PENTAGON LEAKS SUSPECTED JACK TEIXEIRA PRELIMINARY DETENTION DECISION WILL BE MADE AT A LATER DATE
Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, center, sits as attorney Brendan Kelley stands and speaks, right, and his father Jack Michael Teixeira sits on the witness stand, during a detention hearing in federal court, on Thursday in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Ministry of Justice wants Teixeira to be held in custody. (Margaret Klein via AP)
“In February 2023, the defendant told a user that he was tempted to turn a specific type of minivan into a ‘murder van’,” it continued.
“Also in February 2023, the defendant sought advice from another user about what type of gun would be convenient to operate from the back of an SUV,” the document said. “He describes how he would carry out the shooting in a ‘busy urban or suburban environment’.”
And most recently in March, Teixeira described SUVs and crossovers as “mobile gun trucks” and “(off)road and good killing vehicles,” according to federal prosecutors.
The Justice Department also disclosed in the preliminary filing that Teixeira, at his home in North Dighton, Massachusetts, kept a gun cabinet six feet from his bed that contained “multiple weapons, including handguns, shotguns, shotguns, an AK- style high-capacity weapon and a gas mask.”
PENTAGON LEAK SUSPECTED JACK TEIXEIRA TOLD DISCORD USER ‘DELETE ALL MESSAGES’, KEEP CUPBOARD NEAR BED, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SAYS
Selfie of Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old National Guard aviator accused of leaking classified information. (Facebook)
According to the lawsuit, in addition to the alleged online posts, Teixeira “used his government computer to search for the following terms: ‘Ruby Ridge,’ ‘Las Vegas shooting,’ ‘Mandalay Bay shooting,’ ‘Buffalo tops shooting,’ and ‘Uvalde.’ These house searches were not related to the position of the suspect in information technology.
“While it has been reported in the media that these searches may have been related to the suspect’s belief that the government had pre-determined these threats and failed to act, the combination of these search terms, the suspect’s violent statements on social media, and the The defendant’s arsenal of weapons is disturbing,” it concluded.
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Jack Teixeira’s parents (center and right) leave John Joseph Moakley’s U.S. Courthouse in Boston after their sons were arraigned on Friday, April 14, 2023 over alleged leaks of Pentagon documents. (Marc Vasconcellos/The Enterprise/USA-Today Network)
Teixeira’s lawyers argued Thursday morning that he poses no flight risk and that the Justice Department is “making hyperbolic judgments and giving little more than speculation that a foreign adversary will seduce Mr. Teixeira and orchestrate his clandestine escape from the United States.”
His legal team had called for Teixeira to be released to his father with location surveillance, no internet access, no contact with witnesses and $20,000 bail.
Fox News’ Tamara Gitt and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
