8 men indicted on terrorism charges in sniper plot to kill Trump at UFC White House event: DOJ
A federal grand jury in Ohio issued a two-count indictment against all eight defendants on Thursday.
Federal authorities have brought terrorism charges against eight men accused of plotting to assassinate senior government figures and other prominent people, among them President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Elon Musk during the UFC Freedom 250 event that took place at the White House in June.
A federal grand jury in Ohio issued a two-count indictment against all eight defendants on Thursday. The charges include conspiring to give material support to terrorists, conspiring to carry out murder on federal property, and conspiring to kill federal officials, per the Department of Justice.
Investigators were first alerted to a possible threat against the mixed martial arts event on June 10, only four days before it was scheduled to happen. Most of the accused, seven in total, were taken into custody soon afterward at different locations before any attack took place.
The final suspect, Chandler D. Scaggs, 21, who was allegedly assigned to act as a sniper in the planned attack, was apprehended by the FBI earlier this week in West Virginia.
The eight in the indictment include Tycen C. Proper (19), Michael Alan Thomas (32), Daniel K. Eskridge (32), Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez (31), Jordan W. Rincker (28), Bryan Omar Roa (25), William Lee Spartacus Falkner (21), and Scaggs.
According to prosecutors, the scheme began to take shape in May, with the group stockpiling cash, guns, ammunition, protective gear, explosives, drones, medical equipment, and communication devices.
They had participated in online group chats over Signal, SimpleX, Discord, TikTok, and Instagram as they developed the plan for the alleged attack plot.
Authorities said the original plan called for Proper to drive Scaggs to the nation’s capital. Even after Proper’s arrest disrupted that arrangement, Scaggs reportedly told the others he still intended to take part and arranged for a different accomplice to transport him instead.
Prosecutors described the group as holding extreme, anti-government conspiracy beliefs, noting they wanted to “tear down” the United States so it could be rebuilt.
The indictment says that the group developed a tier system as part of the conspiracy to classify participants. Those that were in the “tier one” classification pledged to put themselves “in harms [sic] way, break the law, and potentially go into hiding” to carry out the plan.