Man threatens to kill 100 LGBTQ students in Florida and says it was a ‘joke,’ feds say
A man from Central Florida is accused of threatening to kill 100 LGBTQ people in a mass shooting at Florida State University, federal investigators said.
Sean Michael Albert, a 19-year-old from Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando, is accused of posting the threat to a Discord channel Dec. 13, according to the federal criminal complaint. Discord is a social media instant messaging platform popular with gamers.
The post included a photo of an AR-15 style rifle, along with a caption that included Florida State University’s main address and referred to his intended targets with an anti-LGBTQ slur, the complaint said.
“600 W College Ave, Tallahasse, FL 32306. At 13:00 December 17, 2022 100 [expletive] Will Die, Cya there!” the post read, with the username BloodStainedSand#0088.
Discord gave investigators the IP address information for the post, which linked to Albert’s home address listed on his driver’s license, the complaint says. His address is near Full Sail University’s campus, where he was still actively enrolled as a student on Dec. 16, the complaint says.
The apartment manager, Albert’s roommate and the security manager for Full Sail University all confirmed to investigators Albert has a “history of violence and a pattern of concerning behavior.”
They told investigators Albert “has rapidly progressed from making controversial statements online, to confrontation with classmates and peers in online spaces, as well as direct confrontation with people outside of his university,” the complaint states.
Albert’s Discord username was linked to previous threats against Black and Jewish people, according to investigators. Some of his posts called for killing all Black people while using a coded anti-Black slur and indicating that his weekend plans were to “Tear gas a synagogue,” according to the complaint. Another post containing an anti-LGBTQ slur said “A genocide on [expletive] NEEDS to happen not even a question,” the complaint states.
Instead of carrying out his threat on LGBTQ students in Tallahassee, Albert flew to Washington, D.C., on Dec. 16, the complaint says. Investigators stopped him at the Orlando International Airport on Jan. 1, when he was on his way home.
He agreed to speak with them. Investigators asked why he thought he was being interviewed, and after offering three possibilities that didn’t involve anything illegal, he said “it was probably because ‘[he] made a post online that may be perceived as a mass shooting threat,’” the complaint states.
He admitted to posting the threat and said he copied the image of the AR-15 style rifle from a Reddit post, the complaint says. He also told investigators he didn’t think his post was illegal, saying it was meant to be “ironic,” “satirical,” and a “joke.”
He told investigators he chose the address for Florida State University “because it would get the most reaction from those on the Discord server,” the complaint says.
Albert faces charges of sending interstate communication of a threat to injure another person.
At a hearing Wednesday, Jan. 4, U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd ordered he be detained until trial, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
This story was originally published January 5, 2023 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Man threatens to kill 100 LGBTQ students in Florida and says it was a ‘joke,’ feds say."
