FBI Director Kash Patel said his agents thwarted a potential tragedy after arresting a North Carolina man who allegedly threatened online to massacre dozens of Black children at a preschool.
Zachary Charles Newell, 25, of Newport, was arrested Monday and is charged with interstate threat to kidnap or injure, according to a criminal complaint filed Sept. 2 in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
"Threats of violence against children are beyond unacceptable acts of cowardice," Patel wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The FBI worked quickly with our partners in Carteret County to ensure this individual was taken into custody before he could act. Parents should know we will never hesitate to respond with urgency to protect their kids, their schools, and their communities."
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Prosecutors allege Newell posted a comment on YouTube under the username "CommentatorsHateMe" on Aug. 27, stating his intention to "shoot up" a preschool, injuring or killing 20 Black children, among other violent and racist threats.
The day before, he allegedly posted another vicious, race-related threat under the same account, which included a number of slurs, according to the complaint.
Google LLC reported the threats to the FBI's National Threat Operations Center on Aug. 31, having linked the "CommentatorsHateMe" account to an email registered to Newell, with associated phone numbers and an address.
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Law enforcement traced the account's IP address to Charter Communications in Newport, and on Aug. 31, Carteret County Sheriff's Office deputies confronted Newell at his home.
Newell allegedly admitted to making the YouTube comment, according to the complaint.
A search warrant was executed at his home, and he was initially charged in state court with communicating a threat of mass violence on educational property.
The Carteret County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital Newell was given a $30,000 bond by a state magistrate, where he was able to post bond.
Later that evening, the sheriff's office worked with the FBI to take him into federal custody on federal charges. Additional charges will be forthcoming by the FBI.
FBI North Carolina special agent in charge James C. Barnacle Jr. told Fox News Digital every child deserves to go to school without fear.
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"Your FBI will work with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to investigate threats directed at schools," Barnacle wrote in a statement. "This federal charge should be a warning to anyone who believes they can sit anonymously behind a keyboard and make violent threats."
The sheriff's office said there were no specific preschools or educational properties mentioned in the threats, and there is no active threat of violence at any Carteret County schools.
"The comments posted by this suspect were violent, hateful and shocking to the conscience," Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Our office worked swiftly to take this subject into custody and worked with the [FBI] to subsequently have him placed into federal custody. … Suspects who make these types of comments will be dealt with as severely as the law allows."
The contents of the suspect's alleged comments were not included in this report due to their highly disturbing nature.
