James Patrick Reardon, 20, allegedly posted an Instagram video of himself firing a gun along with a caption about shooting at a Youngstown JCC.
An Ohio man was arrested on Saturday after allegedly making credible threats against a Jewish community center, according to law enforcement officials and the Anti-Defamation League.
James Patrick Reardon, 20, a self-identified white nationalist, posted a video to Instagram on July 11, which led to his arrest.
The video shows Reardon firing a gun along with the caption, “Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as white nationalist Seamus O’Reardon.” Reardon’s online pseudonym is “I-R-A Seamus.”
The Youngstown Police Department and the FBI searched the home of Reardon’s mother in New Middletown, Ohio, and confiscated two AR-15s, a rifle with a bayonet, a .40 caliber anti-tank gun, knives, a gas mask, a bulletproof vest, several magazines and 223 rounds of ammunition, WFMJ reported.
Reardon’s online history was also being searched.
Though it is believed there is no longer a threat, all synagogues in the area have increased security, according to the Cleveland regional office of the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL.
“Today’s arrest is a reminder of the continued rise of white nationalism and violent extremism that we are seeing nation wide,” James Pasch, regional director of the Cleveland ADL, said in a statement Saturday. “The man whom authorities arrested today appears to have attended the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, where he announced to the world that he was a white nationalist who wanted, ‘a homeland for white people.’”
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