The Pennsylvania man accused of fatally shooting and beheading his father and displaying his decapitated head in a YouTube video has been charged with three counts of terrorism.
The Bucks County District Lawyer’s Workplace announced Thursday that Justin Mohn, 32, was charged with three counts of terrorism; two counts of possession of an instrument of crime; and one depend every of theft, carrying firearms with no license, theft, receiving stolen property, felony use of a communication facility, terroristic threats and defiant trespassing.
He had already been charged with first-degree murder in reference to the alleged homicide of his father, 68-year-old Michael Mohn, who labored for the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers.
On the night time of the alleged slaying, Mohn posted a video to social media urging “patriots across the nation” to take up arms in opposition to different federal workers. He’s being held with out bail. A preliminary listening to has been scheduled for April 2.
How the grisly case unfolded
Prosecutors allege that Justin Daniel Mohn was appearing with a “clear thoughts” when he killed and dismembered his father in Middletown Township, simply north of Philadelphia, the place he lived together with his mother and father.
An post-mortem later decided that Michael Mohn died of a gunshot wound to the top, and that his head was subsequently eliminated utilizing a machete.
In line with police, Michael Mohn’s spouse got here dwelling on Jan. 30 to seek out her husband’s physique, then ran to a neighbor’s home and referred to as 911. When police arrived, officers discovered a decapitated “aged male within the downstairs toilet with a considerable amount of blood round him.” A machete and a big knife had been situated within the bathtub, and a head “wrapped in Saran Wrap” was found within the subsequent room.
Mohn’s spouse instructed police that she had left round 2 p.m. and that her husband and son had been the one individuals at dwelling. She additionally reported that her husband’s Toyota Corolla was lacking when she returned.
A disturbing YouTube video
Across the similar time, police acquired a number of calls alerting authorities to a disturbing 14-and-a-half-minute video posted to YouTube displaying Justin Mohn displaying Michael Mohn’s severed head whereas claiming his father was a “traitor to his nation” and calling on members of “Mohn’s militia” to take up arms in opposition to different federal workers, together with a federal choose whose handle he disclosed.
The video had been seen no less than 5,000 instances earlier than it was taken down, in line with an affidavit.
After viewing the YouTube video, investigators confirmed “the gloves, decapitated head, and room are the identical as depicted within the video,” the affidavit stated.
In a press release following the incident, YouTube stated “the video was eliminated for violating our graphic violence coverage” and that Mohn’s YouTube channel was “terminated in step with our violent extremism insurance policies.”
“Our groups are intently monitoring to take away any re-uploads of the video,” the corporate added.
Mohn’s anti-government screeds
According to NBC News, Mohn had beforehand self-published a collection of books crammed with anti-government rhetoric:
One ebook, titled “The Revolution Chief’s Survival Information,” consists of “the transcript of a letter to then-President Donald Trump warning of “a peaceable revolution helped by the creator if optimistic change doesn’t come to America and the world quickly.”
“He’s been ranting and railing concerning the authorities for 10 years now and the way they’re out to get him,” Michael Prickett, one among Mohn’s childhood pals, instructed the information outlet. “We had been fairly shut rising up as children, however as soon as he went to school, he went off the rails.”
The horrific case comes amid one other divisive election season led by Trump, who’s vowing retribution in opposition to the Biden administration and federal companies, together with the Division of Justice, which is prosecuting him for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Along with the gun, Mohn had a flash drive in his pocket on the time of his arrest. In line with the Bucks County District Lawyer’s workplace, it contained “a number of photos of federal buildings together with directions that appeared to indicate the steps wanted to make an explosive gadget.”
Suspect fled to army base
In line with police, Mohn drove his father’s automotive to a army set up in Fort Indiantown Hole, which is about 110 miles west of Middletown Township.
Mohn then deserted the car, climbed over a barbed wire fence and entered the bottom, the place he was taken into custody. He had a loaded 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun that was lacking one spherical on the time of his arrest. In line with investigators, Mohn had bought the weapon legally the day earlier than the killing and had even surrendered his medical marijuana card with the intention to purchase it.
Mohn instructed authorities that he had gone to the outpost “in an effort to mobilize the Pa. Nationwide Guard to lift arms in opposition to the federal authorities,” and that he was making an attempt to contact Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to get the state to help that effort.
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