A 13-year-old in Ohio is facing criminal charges after allegedly crafting “a detailed plan” for a mass shooting at a synagogue in September.
The teen, whom authorities have not publicly identified, posted “a detailed plan to complete a mass shooting” at Temple Israel in Canton, the documents state.
The defendant posted the plan on the social media platform Discord, and when authorities notified public individuals and agencies and the school system, it caused “significant public alarm,” according to the documents.
The 13-year-old is charged with misdemeanor counts of inducing panic and disorderly conduct in the September 1 incident, according to the documents.
Its unclear if any weapons were found when the teen was arrested or how serious the intentions were.
The teen is due to appear next week in Stark County Family Court for a trial on the charges. CNN has reached out to Stark County officials and the synagogue for more information. In a statement, Discord said it reported the user to the FBI.
“Discord’s Counter-Extremism analysts proactively detected, removed, and reported this user to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, which is what led to the user’s arrest,” John Redgrave, Discord’s vice president of trust and safety, said.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy against hate and violent extremism, and when we see it, we take immediate action. It is a top priority for Discord to ensure a safe experience for our users,” the statement said.
The incident came more than a month before Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza, a conflict that has sparked a surge of antisemitic and other threats across the United States. With the war now in its third month, there has been an increase in reported incidents targeting Jews, Arabs and Muslims in the US.
More than 2,000 antisemitic incidents have been documented in the US in the two months after the conflict began October 7 – a 337% increase over the same period last year, the Anti-Defamation League said.
And the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported an “unprecedented” spike in bias incidents in the month after the war began and has tallied more than 2,000 requests for help and reports of bias since, it said.
Of the alleged mass shooting plot in Ohio, the Anti-Defamation League in Cleveland was “horrified” and thanked law enforcement for “its thorough investigation,” the group said in a statement Wednesday.
“For young people like this suspect, we hope this can be a teachable moment,” the group said. “Hate and threats on social media, as in real life, cannot and will not be tolerated.”
