FBI Detains Man Who Plotted With Wisconsin School Shooter, Wanted To Target Government, Police Say

A California man was detained by the FBI on Tuesday night after he communicated with the 15-year-old Wisconsin school shooter and allegedly plotted his own mass shooting at a government building, according to police, NBC News reported.

FBI agents seized guns and ammunition from the Carlsbad, California, home of a 20-year-old male on Tuesday night. The seizure was authorized by a San Diego Superior Court judge who approved a “gun violence restraining order,” often called a “red flag” law, according to NBC 7.

The man was detained “after he was discovered plotting a mass shooting with the Madison Wisconsin shooter,” a Carlsbad police officer wrote in the gun order.

According to the order, the 20-year-old suspect “admitted to the FBI agents” that he talked with the teen girl before she killed two people and wounded several others at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday morning. The man allegedly told her “that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building.” The Wisconsin school shooter was found at the scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police say that she used a handgun.

NBC News reported that it was unclear if the California man was arrested or charged after he was detained for questioning. How and why the man was allegedly in communication with the Wisconsin shooter also remains unclear. The Carlsbad Police Department assured the public on Wednesday night that “there is no threat to the Carlsbad community at this time.”

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Madison, Wisconsin, authorities are still working to determine a motive for the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School. The 15-year-old girl opened fire in a study hall classroom that had students of mixed grades, killing a classmate and substitute teacher and wounding six others. Police said earlier this week that they are looking into writings possibly authored by the shooter. Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told CNN on Tuesday that authorities “have been made aware of a manifesto … or some type of letter that’s been posted by someone who alleged to be her friend.”

Court records obtained by The Washington Post show that the shooter, who will not be named per Daily Wire policy, was in therapy over her troubled home life. The 15-year-old split time between her mom and dad, who divorced in 2014, remarried in 2017, divorced again in 2020, and then remarried for a second time. By April 2021, the couple petitioned for a third divorce and were “admonished” by a judge “concerning remarriage.”

By July 2022, the shooter was enrolled in therapy to help guide decisions on which parent she would spend weekends with, court records show, according to the Post. Her parents’ custody agreement moved her between her mom and dad every two to three days.

Asked at a Tuesday press conference how the shooter would have been able to obtain a firearm, Chief Barnes replied, “How does any 15-year-old get ahold of a gun?”