Florida man arrested for alleged mass shooting threat against LGBTQ people
Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on January 5, 2023
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — A man who allegedly threatened a mass shooting against LGBTQ people at Florida State University has been arrested by the FBI.
Sean Michael Albert, 19, waived his preliminary hearing and is now in detention, according to court filings.
Albert has been charged with interstate communication of a threat to injure a person after allegedly posting a picture of an “AR-15 style” rifle on Dec. 13 with the address of FSU and a later date and time on the social media platform Discord.
Using a slur for LGBTQ people, he said 100 people “will die, Cya there!”
According to officials, Discord provided the Internet Protocol (IP) address information for the post, and traced the post to Albert, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time of the post.
He was confronted by FBI officials at the Orlando International Airport.
“After providing three possibilities of why the FBI would want to speak with him (none of which involved illegal activity), Albert responded that it was probably because ‘[he] made a post online that may be perceived as a mass shooting threat,'” the criminal complaint against Albert read.
According to the complaint, Albert told FBI officials, “that he did not believe his post was illegal,” and that it was meant to be “‘ironic,’ ‘satirical,’ and ‘a joke.'”
The complaint stated that Albert was a student at Full Sail University, as of Dec. 16. According to FBI interviews, he used FSU’s address because it would “get the most reaction from those on the Discord server.”
The firearm used in the photo was taken from a post on another social media site, Reddit, the complaint said.
According to FBI interviews with Albert’s apartment manager, the security manager at Full Sail University and Albert’s roommate, Albert had “a history of violence and a pattern of concerning behavior.”
“In particular, it is assessed that 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 read.
Florida State University and Albert’s legal representation did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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