MONROE — A Monroe man has been charged with two felonies for allegedly posting mass shooting plans and selfies with Nazi salutes on Facebook, as well as pictures of his gun collection.
Last fall, the Anti-Defamation League tipped off the FBI about a stream of hateful posts about killing Jews in a synagogue and kids in school. Anti-Semitic memes and other violent fantasies kept showing up for months on seven Facebook accounts, each a variation on the fake names Tom Shill or William King.
Some referred to a mass shooting planned for 2025. One account had been registered with a phone number belonging to the mother of Dakota Reed, 20.
“I’m shooting for 30 Jews,” read a post Nov. 11. “No pun needed. Long ways away anyways. See you Goys.”
Ten days later, a post on the same account read: “We can’t vote away what our fathers tried to, we must spill blood.”
Reed posted a certificate supposedly proving his membership in the Ku Klux Klan, and voiced support for a hate group that advocates a white ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest, according to the charges. He wrote about “pulling a Dylann Roof,” referring to the white supremacist who killed nine people in a South Carolina church.
On Dec. 4, prosecutors believe Reed made a video introducing himself as Active Shooter 327. He showed off new sights on an AR-15 rifle, in a room full of white supremacist propaganda. He yelled, “(I’m) fixing to shoot up a (expletive) school,” charging papers say.
In other posts the author of the Facebook posts asked himself why he needed guns. His reply was a cartoon of a Jewish man being executed with a bullet. He wrote he was saving up to buy guns and ammo to kill “(((rats))).” Among anti-Semites, the echo symbol is a reference to Jews.
“The Facebook accounts drew law enforcement attention because of the combination of hateful white supremacist rhetoric with a large collection of powerful firearms,” according to the charges.
Reed used his personal email to register at least one of the shell accounts. Some posts appeared to show photos of where Reed was living, at his father’s rural home off High Bridge Road.
He was arrested at his mother’s home in Lake Forest Park on Dec. 7. In his room near Monroe, investigators found military helmets, gas masks and fascist symbols — all matching items in the video he had posted, according to the charges.
At the time, Reed worked at a Fred Meyer in Seattle.
Twelve guns were recovered from the Monroe home, when the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office was granted an extreme risk protection order in December, court papers say. The civil order prohibits someone from having firearms if they are considered a threat to themselves or others.
Detectives also seized a laptop and hand-written notes “espousing white supremacy.”
Reed agreed to a recorded interview with a detective and an FBI agent. According to the charges, Reed struggled to articulate why he’d directed his anger at Jews.
“I’ve been around some Jews in my life,” he said. “There’s a community here in Washington. They’ve done things as far as to — um. Maybe it wasn’t too personal, but I’ve had them lie to me, I’ve had them, um, I guess, well, this one probably wasn’t their fault, but I’ve had girls like them over me. I’ve, uh, what was the other one?”
He eventually remembered: Someone who was Jewish had gotten him fired before, he said.
He reportedly admitted to authoring the posts on each account. However, he claimed they were supposed to be fictional. He only thought things like that in the heat of moment, but not when he calmed down, he reported. He felt as if anger was “cluttering” his brain, coming from many places. He compared it to a chemical reaction.
“You take a pinch here,” he said. “Take a … “
He gestured with his hands, like an explosion. Reed tried to explain why he’d been posting on Facebook.
“I’m not finding a healthy outlet to brush all that out,” he said, according to court papers.
Reed’s bail was set at $50,000 in December. He spent the weekend in jail before posting bond.
Snohomish County prosecutors charged him Wednesday with two counts of threats to bomb or injure property. He was not charged with a hate crime. An arraignment is set for April 18.
The same week Reed was arrested, eight people were booked into jail for an alleged hate crime at a bar near Lynnwood. They were accused of beating a black DJ while shouting racial slurs.
No one in that group has been charged.
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
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