Eight men were reportedly indicted on murder and terrorism conspiracy charges Thursday for their alleged roles in a thwarted drone and sniper attack on the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House in June.
According to the Associated Press, the indictment, returned in Ohio, charges all eight in two separate conspiracies — one to provide material support to terrorists and a second to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.
It remains unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers could have come to being able to carry out the plan had it not been thwarted.
Setting up the plot
According to the new indictment, the plot began in May, when the group began amassing money, firearms, ammunition, body armour, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communications equipment and other items.
On June 10, law enforcement officials learned about a possible threat to President Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show. This was just four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza was scheduled to take place.
Officials reportedly said the group members harboured fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilise the government.
One of the defendants told investigators that they planned to fly explosive-laden drones into the event and then shoot panicked crowd members as they fled, according to a federal affidavit, the Associated Press reported.
They communicated through online chat groups and forums and classified participants into tiers, with tier 1 participants committing “to put themselves in harm’s way, break the law, and potentially go into hiding,” according to the federal indictment.
Members of the group also engaged in marksmanship and combat training.
Tycen C Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio, and four others were arrested and charged in Missouri, Nebraska and California the weekend of the cage-fighting event, called Freedom 250. Two more defendants were charged and arrested by the FBI about a week later in Washington and Missouri.
The eighth man
The Justice Department said an eighth man was charged this week. He is 21-year-old Chandler D. Scaggs, of Chapmanville, West Virginia, who was taken into custody in that state. Scaggs was allegedly assigned to be one of the snipers in the plotted attack, according to an affidavit.
The affidavit said Scaggs was apparently to be picked up by Proper and taken to Washington but lost contact with him after Proper was arrested, the same as the others.
Scaggs allegedly signalled to the group that he was still willing to participate in the attack and arranged to travel to the event with another co-conspirator.
Scaggs’ attorney, Eric Brehm, said his office was thoroughly reviewing the allegations and declined to comment further.
Conspiring to provide material support to terrorists is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and conspiring to commit murder carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Federal prosecutors allege that the group planned to murder Trump, Vice President JD Vance, other federal officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, trillionaire businessman Elon Musk and “other high value targets” at the event.
(With inputs from AP)
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