An 18-year-old high school student in Montgomery County, Maryland, has been charged with making threats of mass violence after authorities said he wrote a 129-page document describing a desire to “shoot up” his high school.
Andrea Ye, who uses the name Alex, was arrested Wednesday and is being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit where he awaits a bond hearing, police said.
Authorities began investigating Ye, who lives in Rockville and attended Wootton High School, on March 3 after he shared the document with a friend, who ended up calling police, according to court documents.
Manifesto or work of fiction?
The document, which authorities described as a “manifesto,” contains several disturbing passages. “I want to shoot up my school,” it states on page one. Other passages read, “As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets” and “I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets.”
The writings express a desire for fame by carrying out violent acts, according to the court documents.
“I really want to be famous. Even infamous,” Ye wrote, according to authorities.
However, the document also begins with a disclaimer stating the contents are a work of fiction. “This is not a threat of violence, nor does it represent the author’s beliefs,” the preface stated.
The friend who called police noted “striking similarities” between the main character in the writings, called James Wang, and Ye. “The story focused on a transgender main character being bullied in school” and other elements the friend “believed were directly from Ye’s life and not indicative of fiction,” a Montgomery County police sergeant wrote in court documents.
Police said Ye has also referred to his writing as his “memoir,” which authorities said indicated it was not solely a work of fiction. They concluded the document “has portions of fictional and non-fictional qualities and is based on reality.”
Other disturbing messages
Later, police searched the teen’s home, phone and email accounts, turning up other troubling social media messages and online searches, including searches for other mass shootings.
There were also references to AR-15s and bomb-making, according to court documents. However, aside from an Amazon purchase of a BB gun more than a year ago, there is no indication from court documents the teen actually had any other weapons at the time of his arrest.
The court documents detail a long history of psychiatric treatment related to the teen’s apparent homicidal and suicidal thoughts. In December 2022, Ye was hospitalized for threatening to “shoot up a school” and was reportedly preoccupied with thoughts of self-harming, school shootings and explosives.
A few months later, Ye was hospitalized for five months at Johns Hopkins Pediatric Unit for having thoughts of killing people, according to court documents.
More recently, after the friend called police about the “manifesto” in March, Ye was again hospitalized, this time in Montgomery County, where hospital staff were so concerned by the threat posed by Ye that they felt they had to notify the school system and the FBI.
In a statement, Montgomery County Public Schools said Ye has not physically attended an MCPS school since the fall of 2022 and has been participating in a virtual program.
“The charges are extremely serious, involving alleged threats to harm others,” the statement said. “We value and appreciate the close collaboration between MCPS and MCPD in this matter, which is an example of our shared commitment to identify and address potential threats with due process before they materialize.”
In court documents, police said the school system had increased security precautions at Wootton High school.
In a joint statement, Montgomery County officials credited Maryland legislation with preventing Ye from actually harming anyone.
“One thing is already clear: the suspect pointed to lack of access to a firearm as a key factor in preventing the individual from taking action. Maryland gun laws provide an essential barrier against individuals with a significant history of mental illness and violent ideations from obtaining firearms,” the statement reads.
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