The airman accused of leaking classified information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other foreign policy topics researched mass shootings, was suspended from high school for remarks about weapons, and was denied a gun permit before joining the military, prosecutors said in a Wednesday court filing.
The background history of 21-year old Jack Teixeira, who stands accused of leaking national defense information, was offered by prosecutors as part of a request to keep Teixeira behind bars until he stands trial.
The filing and attached exhibits read as much like the story of an averted mass shooter as they do the profile of a young man who, the government said, disclosed documents that pose an “exceptionally grave danger to U.S. national security.”
Per court filings, Teixeira’s clearance to access Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information — which he allegedly later used to post classified documents on Discord — came after an alarming series of events.
Prosecutors say that in 2018, Teixeira was suspended from his high school for unspecified “concerning comments” about “Molotov cocktails and other weapons.”
From there, Teixeira purportedly applied for a gun permit, before his local police department denied the application because of the high school incident.
The FBI searched Teixeira’s childhood home this month after his arrest, and purportedly found “handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, and a gas mask” in a gun locker next to his bed, along with ammunition. The feds also said that they retrieved “military-style helmet” and a GoPro camera that could be mounted onto it.
Per exhibits attached to the motion to keep Teixeira behind bars, the air national guardsman also discussed his fantasies around mass shootings on the same forums where he allegedly disclosed classified records.
In one Nov. 23, 2022 chat cited by prosecutors, Teixeira allegedly wrote “If I had my way I’d kill a fuck ton of people” to an unnamed correspondent. “Bc in all honesty you have to/Whether or not you like it/Seriously I would be forcibly culling the weak minded” he added.
Teixeira allegedly discussed building an “assassination van” in other chats, and mused about “bomb[ing]” his school.
Prosecutors included the allegations as part of an argument that Teixeira presents not only a national security and counterintelligence threat, but also poses a direct physical threat to the community via his access to weapons and penchant for at least musing about mass casualty events.
The filings also chronicle how Teixeira purportedly reacted when images of classified records that he allegedly posted on private Discord servers began to migrate elsewhere across the internet.
In one March 19 message, Teixeira adopted a more formal tone than in his mass shooting ideation missives.
“I was very happy and willing and enthusiastic to have covered this event for the past year and share with all of you something that not many people get to see something very few people in fact, get to see, but despite all of this, I’ve decided to stop with the updates,” he wrote.
One month later, he was arrested.
