A North Carolina man found with a van full of guns and explosives had searched for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s home address, had traveled to a nearby Wendy’s and was found with a checklist ending with the word “execute,” federal court documents show.
Alexander Hillel Treisman, 19, was indicted September on charges of child pornography possession, which included thousands of photos and videos of child pornography stored across multiple laptops, hard drives and other devices.
The information related to Tresiman’s plan was obtained in documents related to a detention hearing held earlier this month related to those charges, in which a magistrate ordered for him to remain in custody.
Treisman’s saga began in May after employees at a bank in Kannapolis, North Carolina, reported an abandoned van belonging to Treisman in the bank’s parking lot to authorities. In the van, police officers saw an AR-15-style rifle, a box for a handgun, a box of ammunition and a canister of Tannerite, an explosive often used for firearms practice, the documents say.
Treisman was arrested, a search inside the van found additional firearms and more than $500,000, as well as books on subjects including bomb making, improvised weapons and Islam, per court documents. Officers also found drawings of swastikas and a plane crashing into a building, as well as fake driver’s licenses for Washington, Florida and California.
The Daily Beast reported that according to the warrant for his arrest, Treisman told police “he had an interest in terrorist incidents and mass shootings” to the point where family members and friends stopped speaking with him over his fascination with the grim subjects.
His arrest then led to an investigation from the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which the Daily Beast reported had involvement from field officers nationwide.
Their investigation brought up a litany of online searches, posts and other information, in addition to the child pornography, according to testimony from an officer for the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Treisman, per a task force officer, shared a meme online with the caption “should I kill joe biden?” It was shared on the meme website iFunny, which, per a report by BuzzFeed News, is a breeding ground for white supremacist thought.
The officer also stated that this search revealed the checklist with the word “execute” and that he traveled to a Wendy’s restaurant near Biden’s home in Delaware.
He also looked into the location of Biden’s home, state gun laws, rifle parts and night vision goggles, per the documents. Per the Daily Beast, he also allegedly searched: “does the vp get secret service for life.”
In addition to looking at Wikipedia and YouTube for information on shootings and terrorist attacks, court documents said he had saved still images of footage from the mosque shooting at Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 51 were killed.
A note saved on his phone, per the documents, also revealed that he had intentions for a mass shooting at a mall food court on Christmas or Black Friday.
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