School Shooting Plot: Maryland Student Arrested for 129-Page Manifesto

School Shooting Plot

Chinese-American high school student in Maryland arrested for writing 129-page school shooting “manifesto”

WASHINGTON — A Chinese high school student from Montgomery County, Maryland, near Washington, the United States, was arrested on Wednesday (April 17). Police accused him of planning to launch a large-scale violent attack on campus and even considering targeting an elementary school.

Key Concepts

• An 18-year-old high school student named Andrea Ye, who prefers to be called Alex Ye, was arrested on suspicion of planning a large-scale violent attack on campus.
• Ye’s 129-page school shooting plan was discovered by authorities, outlining a strategy for carrying out a school shooting and considering targeting an elementary school to become famous.
• Police found related materials at Ye’s home after a joint investigation with the FBI.
• Ye claimed the document was pure fiction and had no intention of taking action.
• Ye had a history of hospitalization for threats of violence and suicidal thoughts.
• Ye was found in possession of the document after communicating with an unidentified person on Instagram who believed a school shooting was imminent.
• Ye had not been attending school in person since the fall of 2022 and was only taking online classes.
• Ye could face up to 10 years in prison for threats of mass violence.
• The district responded by increasing security at Wootton High School due to concerns about school shootings.

Montgomery County police said at a news conference Thursday that authorities had discovered a 129-page school shooting plan written by the high school student involved. However, the high school student involved argued that the alleged contents were pure fiction. No intention of taking action.

According to a police news release Thursday, the 18-year-old defendant, whose name is Andrea Ye but prefers to be called Alex Ye, is from Rockville, Montgomery County. There are reports that Ye is transgender.

The press release said Ye was arrested after a joint investigation by Montgomery police and the Baltimore office of the FBI uncovered a 129-page “manifesto” written by Ye.

In the document, police said Ye “wrote about committing a school shooting and strategizing how to carry out the plan. Ye also considered targeting an elementary school and said he wanted to become famous.”

After obtaining a search warrant, investigators found Internet searches, drawings, and documents related to threats of mass violence at Ye’s home, police said.

According to the media, police discovered the document after Ye communicated with an unidentified person via Instagram. The unidentified man believed a school shooting was “imminent,” according to the arrest warrant. The unidentified person said he met Ye when he was receiving inpatient treatment at a local mental hospital.

Ye is being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Center without bail, pending a June 3 bail hearing. Montgomery County prosecutors said at a press conference Friday that threats of mass violence carry a sentence of up to 10 years.

Ye studied at Wootton High School, a well-known key high school in Montgomery County with many Chinese students in the school. However, reports say that Ye has not been in school since the fall of 2022 and only continues his education through online classes.

According to the arrest warrant, Ye was hospitalized in December 2022 for “threats to ‘shoot up schools,’ homicide and suicidal thoughts.” In 2023, Ye was hospitalized in the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University for five months because of “homicidal thoughts.”

According to the arrest warrant, FBI agents interviewed a school counselor who worked with the student in late 2022 and early 2023. The counselor said Ye would “express violent thoughts, such as shooting at school and wanting to hurt other people, and do so with a smile.”

The arrest warrant also states that the student “did say he wanted to shoot Wootton High School and ‘his elementary school,’ but never named the elementary school.

In response, the district increased security, particularly at Wootton High School, “out of legitimate concerns about school shootings” and in the hope that it would serve as a “visual deterrent,” the warrant said.