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USA Today
24-05-2025
- USA Today
Neo-Nazi leader accused of inspiring school shooting, plotting NYC attack extradited to US
Neo-Nazi leader accused of inspiring school shooting, plotting NYC attack extradited to US Show Caption Hide Caption Antioch High School student-led rally to honor Josselin Corea Escalante Students and local politicians attend a student-led rally to honor Josselin Corea Escalante at Antioch High School in Antioch, Tenn., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. The 17-year-old Tennessee school shooter said before the attack he was acting on behalf of the group MKY. The leader of MKY, a Georgian national, was extradited to the U.S. and arraigned in New York on May 23. The charges relate to Michail Chkhikvishvili's alleged training of an undercover agent on how to carry out a mass poisoning. Federal officials extradited an international neo-Nazi group leader they say inspired a teen to commit a school shooting in Tennessee earlier this year and plotted to commit a mass casualty attack in New York City targeting Jewish people. The terrorist group's leader, 21-year-old Michail Chkhikvishvili, orchestrated deadly attacks around the globe, prosecutors said. The citizen of the nation of Georgia was extradited from Moldova on May 22 after he was arrested in July. He was scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn on May 23, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ said the man, who went by the name "Commander Butcher," was the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, which goes by several other names including MKY. Chkhikvishvili has distributed a writing called the "Hater's Handbook," encouraging people to commit acts of mass violence and "ethnic cleansing," according to court filings. His "solicitations of violence" led to international attacks, including a 2024 stabbing outside a mosque in Turkey, prosecutors said. Chkhikvishvili targeted the U.S. as a site for more attacks because of the ease of accessing firearms, prosecutors said in court records. He told an undercover law enforcement employee, 'I see USA as big potential because accessibility to firearms and other resources,' in an electronic message sent Sept. 8, 2023, court filings show. It was not clear if Chkhikvishvili had an attorney who could speak on his behalf 'Murder cult' leader plotted to poison Jewish kids in NYC, feds say Chkhikvishvili has been indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on four counts including solicitation of violent felonies. The charges stemmed from Chkhikvishvili's communications with an undercover FBI employee in which he trained and encouraged the undercover agent to carry out a mass attack against Jewish people and minorities. Chkhikvishvili corresponded with the undercover agent between September 2023 and at least March 2024. The plot included having an individual wearing a Santa Claus costume hand out poisoned candies to Jewish kids in New York City on New Year's Eve. It later evolved into targeting Jewish people on a larger scale. Chkhikvishvili said he wanted the attack to be a "bigger action than Breivik," prosecutors said. Breivik refers to Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a massacre in Norway in 2011 that targeted mostly teenagers at a camp. "His goal was to spread hatred, fear, and destruction by encouraging bombings, arson, and even poisoning children," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said last year. The MKY group is based in Russia and Ukraine but has members around the world, including the U.S., according to a federal complaint. Members adhere to neo-Nazi ideology promoting violence against racial minorities. Chkhikvishvili allegedly inspired Tennessee school shooting The man's arrest came before the deadly attack at Antioch High School on Jan. 22, 2025. However, prosecutors in the New York federal court linked the Antioch shooting to Chkhikvishvili's solicitations of violence in a court filing on May 23, the Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York wrote to the judge requesting the man be incarcerated before trial. They pointed to several ways his actions have 'directly resulted in real violence,' including the shooting at Antioch High School. According to the prosecutors, the 17-year-old attacker claimed he was taking action on behalf of MKY and at least one other group in an audio recording posted online before the shooting. It is not clear if the shooter was a member of MKY or had contact with Chkhikvishvili or other members of the terrorist organization. Chkhikvishvili said the group asks for video of brutal beatings, arson, explosions or murders to join the group, adding that the victims should be 'low race targets.' Chkhikvishvili's name also appeared in the document the DOJ said was written by the Antioch shooter – a 300-page writing in which the shooter espoused misanthropic White supremacist and Nazi ideologies. The shooter also referred to the founder of MKY and said he would write the founder's name on his gun, according to prosecutors. Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, died after the 17-year-old shot her with a pistol in the cafeteria of Antioch High School. Another student was injured during the attack. The shooter, 17-year-old student Solomon Henderson, then shot and killed himself. Contributing: Michael Loria, USA TODAY
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zero-tolerance laws on Tennessee school shooting threats raise First Amendment worries
Zero-tolerance laws cracking down on school threats are leaving little room for error with the constitutional rights of the students caught up in their net. A week after the Antioch High School shooting in Nashville on Jan. 22, which left 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante dead as well as the shooter, Metro Nashville police made 12 arrests for threats against schools in the area. Prior to that, 15 students were taken into custody in Knoxville, and five in Nashville, for making alleged threats. Such arrests have been on the rise since July 2024, after the passage of new state law that made it a Class E felony to make threats against schools. During the 2024 fiscal year, 518 children in Tennessee were arrested under the current threats of mass violence law, including 71 children between the ages of 7 and 11, according to Beth Cruz, a lecturer in public interest law at Vanderbilt University Law School. Only 17% of those arrested were adjudicated delinquent. Supporters of the law say school threats are no joking matter and all of them must be taken seriously. The aim of a tougher law, they say, is to discourage students from making the threats. Former state Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, sponsored the legislation and another zero-tolerance bill in 2023. He said in early 2024 the goal of the new law was "not just arrest kids and punish them." "Frankly, it's to make certain we're elevating the discussion that's happening between parents and their children and teachers and kids that this is not something that is a joking manner," Lundberg, who lost reelection last year, said at the time. "It is not trivialized." But Tennessee's law, along with measures in other states, has snagged more than just kids potentially seeking to cause harm. It's placing harsh penalties like expulsion or arrest on some children making ill-advised jokes, statements perceived as threats, and even children attempting to report potential threats — all things largely protected by the First Amendment, according to experts. Dorrian Harp, an 18-year-old senior at Hunters Lane High School, was one of the dozen students arrested for threats following the Antioch school shooting. He made a joke about 'Swiss cheese,' a reference to bullet holes that is a common phrase on social media. Despite having no prior criminal record or history of trouble at school, his bond was set to $100,000. He spent a night in jail and will be tried as an adult. Five families in Tennessee are currently suing over the law — three in Williamson County and two in Hamilton County. In the Hamilton County case, a student with emotional and intellectual impairments was arrested in a restaurant parking lot after answering 'yeah' when another kid asked if he was going to 'shoot up' the school. More: Middle Tennessee parents sue Williamson County school board, claim child was unfairly expelled, punished 'The zero-tolerance policy for even uttering the words 'shoot' or 'gun' is an unconstitutional kneejerk reaction by the legislature, and has led school administrators to make rash decisions concerning student discipline,' Buddy Presley, the lead attorney for the child's case, said in court filings. Similar laws have been passed in multiple states. Just three weeks after two teachers and two students were killed at a Georgia high school in September, more than 700 children and teenagers were arrested across the country for making violent threats against schools, according to a review by the New York Times. In Florida, a county sheriff even began posting social media videos of 'perp-walking' children arrested for violent threats, showing the children's faces while they are handcuffed and led into detention areas. 'Parents, if you don't wanna raise your kids, I'm gonna start raising them,' Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a September news conference. 'Every time we make an arrest, your kid's photo is going to be put out there and if I could do it, I'm going to perp walk your kid so that everybody can see what your kid's up to.' The kids in question at the news conference: Two middle boys, ages 11 and 13. In Missouri, a 12-year-old girl was suspended from school for an entire year after she told a fellow classmate about a potential school shooting threat that she found on social media, asking them how to report the threat correctly. Her family is currently suing the school for a violation of her First Amendment rights. 'This is actually going too far,' said Dave Roland, the lead attorney on the girl's case. 'Sure, we want to be able to punish people who make true threats, even if they don't actually intend to carry out a shooting but they intend to scare people…But there's got to be a line.' That line may be drawn soon, however, at least in Tennessee. Recently-filed House Bill 1314, as amended, would require arrests for threats of mass violence only when the threat is made 'knowingly and intentionally' by students who are 'able to carry out that threat.' If passed, the bill would apply to any type of school, house of worship, government building, live performance or event. The bill passed a key House panel this week, and is headed to a final vote in the House. In the two years after the 2023 Covenant School shooting that killed six, the state legislature passed two laws that seek to cut down on violent threats towards schools. Both were sponsored by Lundberg. The first, passed in July 2023, required school officials to expel students if their investigation found a student's threat was 'valid,' though the term is not defined. The second law, passed in 2024, requires police to charge anyone—including children—with Class E felonies for making such threats, whether credible or not. Deputy District Attorney General Roger Moore told The Tennessean in February the credibility of the threat, even if made as a joke, is somewhat irrelevant, as the 'making of the threat' determines the crime. More: Nashville student says he regrets joke that ended in arrest as school threat charges surge The U.S. Supreme Court largely disagrees, however. In the 2023 Counterman v. Colorado ruling, the court set a much higher bar for what is considered a 'true threat' — a legal term used to describe threatening language not covered by the First Amendment. The ruling determined that a 'true threat' requires proof that the speaker consciously disregarded a 'substantial risk' that their speech would cause fear or harm to others, and states that the recklessness of the speech must be judged by the speaker's awareness of the risk, and not the listener's perception of the threat. The ruling cautioned that without legal protections for 'unintentionally' threatening speech, 'a high school student who is still learning norms around appropriate language" could "easily go to prison" for "unreflectingly using language he read in an online forum.' Moore stood by his previous statement when asked about his stances' potential conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. 'Every case stands on its own facts, and I stand by what I said about law enforcement and our office prosecuting these cases," he said in a recent statement to The Tennessean. A spokesperson for his office added 'the statute states you are prohibited from making the threats.' The zero-tolerance penalization of children — whether criminally or academically — for statements that could have been misinterpreted by listeners or made in bad taste by speakers is where many First Amendment experts are expressing concern. Roland, director of litigation and co-founder at the Missouri Freedom Center, is the lead attorney on the current First Amendment lawsuit involving the girl suspended for attempting to report the shooting threat. The girl, a student in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, identified in the lawsuit only as A.N., saw a message on Snapchat that threatened to commit a mass shooting at her high school. A.N. reached out to another child in her school district, explaining what the threat was and recreating an approximate image of it, as she had failed to capture a screenshot of the message. More: Exclusive: Why juvenile mental records are left out of Tennessee's gun background checks The second child shared the conversation on social media, unintentionally giving viewers the impression that A.N was making the threat — not reporting the threat. 'In context, it's clear she was asking about something she had seen somebody else post,' Roland said in an interview. 'She was not making a threat herself. She was asking one person that she thought would know (what to do), and then that kid then posted it and basically gave everyone the impression that she was threatening the school.' Roland stressed the school 'did not have this context' and he believes they responded reasonably, initially, by cancelling classes and extracurriculars for the next day. 'But very quickly, the police department investigated this and found out the context, and they very quickly came to the conclusion that this kid wasn't making a threat,' Roland said. 'And they communicated that to the school. The school took the position of 'we've got a zero-tolerance policy.'' A.N. was initially suspended for 10 days, and after returning to school was notified she would be suspended for another 170 days, or the rest of the school year. According to Roland, at a school board appeal for A.N., both the principal and the superintendent agreed that A.N. never actually threatened anyone in the school. 'The bottom line is, is neither of them had any evidence that she intended to threaten anybody,' Roland said. 'Neither of them had any evidence that she was an ongoing threat to the community in any way, and yet they imposed the maximum possible penalty on her.' Roland said the case presents a number of potential issues, particularly surrounding the free speech rights of kids, both online and outside of school. 'The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the idea that you don't check your First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate, and that you are entitled to protection as long as it is not causing a disruption in the school,' he said. Jennifer Huddleston, a senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute and an expert in online First Amendment rights, said the determination of what is a 'true threat' is becoming more gray as social media becomes more prevalent. Intent, she said, is a key factor. 'We can see that there are cases where true threats conveying an intent to commit violence are not protected First Amendment speech, and can be reacted on for public safety. And that's probably the grounding of many of these laws,' she said. 'When we consider this in a content moderation conversation, however, there are questions around when it is clear when something is a true threat, and how platforms should react. How do we know if it is a true threat versus maybe reposting a quote from a movie, or from a video game, or from a song?' This is where many of these cases hit a snag. Most schools can reasonably argue the threats, whether credible or not, create disruption in the classroom when administrators have to enact safety measures. Roland argues that while the disruption clause is a genuine factor in his case, if any student should be penalized for creating a disruption, it should be the student who shared the threat without context. He also said the 2023 Counterman v. Colorado decision should be a predominate factor in any of these cases. 'What the court ended up saying is that the First Amendment requires a showing of recklessness. In other words, you cannot base a prosecution or conviction or punishment simply on the basis that somebody else perceived this as a threat,' he said. 'You have to show, at a minimum, that the speaker was aware that what they were saying could be perceived as a threat.' Roland said under this interpretation, there is 'no way' a court could find a 12-year-old girl liable for recklessness while trying to report a threat. Roland said that despite the valid sensitivity around the idea of protecting students' free speech rights when it extends to potentially violent statements, the zero-tolerance laws need work, because kids may become less likely to report threats they see online for fear of punishment. "That's part of the reason that I feel like our case is such a valuable vehicle for illustrating the problem," he said. "Because…the school district sent home a letter that noted the prevalence of school shooting threats on social media, and specifically said, if you see something, say something. I pointed out she saw something and she tried to say something.' The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@ by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham Vivian Jones contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: School threat laws: New measures raise First Amendment worries
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Yahoo
Nashville to install concealed weapon detection system in all public high schools
The Metro Nashville Public Schools board unanimously approved installing Evolv, a concealed weapon detection system, in all district high schools in the months to come. A pilot of the system was installed at Antioch High School as students returned to campus six days after a 17-year-old student fatally shot 16-year-old student Josselin Corea Escalante on Jan. 22 and wounded another student in the school cafeteria. The shooter then fatally shot himself. The decision to expand the system came at the end of roughly 90 minutes of board discussion and questions, along with comments from members of the public during the board's regular meeting Tuesday. Josselin Corea Escalante: Nashville community mourns Antioch High School shooting victim Evolv uses artificial intelligence to detect concealed weapons as people enter the school and is more specialized than a traditional metal detector, according to a presentation by MNPS Director Adrienne Battle. The system includes scanner panels similar to what patrons at a stadium or arena may pass through before an event. System Integrations, which owns Evolv, loaned a system to Antioch High for a monthlong pilot as students returned. Battle praised the smoothness of the system's rollout at Antioch High, which is the district's largest school. She said Evolv adds to existing safety measures like secured entryways, cameras, school resource officers and other measures across the district. "We know this isn't a perfect solution to every challenge we face when it comes to keeping our schools safe," Battle said. "It is meant to be a part of a multilayer approach to safety." Board Member Cheryl Mayes, whose district includes Antioch High, said she saw firsthand how Evolv worked as students returned. "The look on the faces of the students as they walked in the door that first day was a look of comfort more than anything else," Mayes said. "There was no anxiety." The board's approval expands the district's existing contract with System Integrations. The initial cost is estimated at around $1.25 million annually. Based on how rollout at the district's high schools goes, MNPS may seek more funding to install Evolv in middle and elementary schools, Battle said. On Tuesday, questions from board members revolved around the efficiency of the system for getting students and staff safely and quickly into schools, staffing needs to keep things running smoothly, future funding needed to maintain and expand the system and other logistical questions about how it all will work. Board member Berthena Nabaa-McKinney also implored the community to address the wider issue of gun violence that is spilling into schools. "We have got to work together as a community to address this," Nabaa-McKinney said. "It is a crisis. It is a pandemic." MNPS will begin the process of ordering and installing the systems into high schools in the weeks to come, with the goal of installing Evolv in two high schools per week. It was not immediately clear when the first installations would take place. Evolv is not the first weapon detection system installed on MNPS campuses. An AI-powered brandished weapon detection system known as Omnilert is installed on cameras across all MNPS campuses. However, the system failed to detect the shooter's gun during the Antioch High shooting — something a district spokesperson said was due to the location of the shooter and the weapon. However, the system did activate when police later entered the school with weapons drawn. The ordeal raised questions about the efficacy of the Omnilert system. More: AI failed to detect Antioch school shooter's gun. Why experts say the million-dollar system is flawed Evolv Technologies was also under scrutiny recently. It settled a case with the the Federal Trade Commission in November after the commission said the company made "misleading claims" that its AI screening system was more effective than traditional metal detectors. In its complaint, the FTC said the scanners failed in several cases to detect weapons in schools while flagging harmless personal items like binders and water bottles. As part of the FTC settlement, the company was required to give some school districts the option to cancel contracts signed between April 2022 and June 2023. The company also discontinued using the marketing materials flagged in the case. None of the three districts in Middle Tennessee already using Evolv chose to cancel their contracts. MNPS student board member Christine Tran also asked questions about Evolv's accuracy of weapon detection during the Tuesday meeting. Jill Lemond, a representative from Evolv, said she did not have a "perfect number" available. Instead, she pointed to the 10% of people entering Antioch High over the last few weeks who required a secondary screening. She also spoke about how the system's AI is constantly "learning" and improving through around 6,000 panels installed at locations worldwide. Reach children's reporter Rachel Wegner at RAwegner@ or follow her on Bluesky @RachelAnnWegner. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville schools to install weapon detection system in high schools
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
Nashville considers adding weapon detection system to all high schools
In the wake of a deadly shooting at Antioch High School last month, the Metro Nashville Public Schools board will consider installing a concealed weapons detection system into all district high schools. A 17-year-old student opened fire in the cafeteria at Antioch High on Jan. 22, fatally shooting 16-year-old student Josselin Corea Escalante and wounding another student. The shooter then fatally shot himself. The tragedy reignited a long-simmering debate over whether MNPS should install metal detectors. Less than a week after the shooting, Antioch High reopened with a new concealed weapons detection system in place known as Evolv. The system includes scanners at the entrance of the school similar to what patrons at a stadium or arena may pass through before an event. System Integrations, which owns Evovl, loaned a system to Antioch High for a monthlong pilot as students returned. "The system has proven to be an effective layer of security, helping detect weapons while maintaining a welcoming and efficient entry process for students," a Friday news release from the district said. 'We see you': Antioch High students return to school with protest, more security after deadly shooting The day of the shooting at Antioch High, a separate system designed to detect brandished weapons failed to pick up the shooter's gun. That system, known as Omnilert, is powered by artificial intelligence and installed on all security cameras across MNPS. District spokesperson Sean Braisted said the student's gun was not detected due to the location of the cameras and the position of the weapon. However, the system did detect the brandished weapons of police officers as they entered the school a short time later. MNPS Director Adrienne Battle said expanding Evolv is "an important step forward" and would take time to implement effectively to make sure the transition is smooth. "There is no single solution to ending gun violence, a national epidemic that affects all parts of society, with access to weapons often going unchecked. However, we remain committed to doing what we can to protect our students and staff in our schools," Battle said in the release. More: Antioch High School's AI weapon detection system failed to detect student's gun before deadly shooting The proposed expansion will go before the MNPS board during its regular meeting Tuesday. It would amend the district's current contract with System Integrations to lease and install the systems on high school campuses district-wide. A preliminary estimate showed the expansion would cost $1.25 million annually, according to the release. The proposal includes a plan to gradually deploy the systems to MNPS high schools in the coming weeks and month to work out efficient entry flow designs, train staff and educate students. While the overall cost may change, it will be up to the district to work out how to secure funding for the systems, if approved. Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell reiterated his call for stronger policies to prevent gun violence, but also acknowledged the proposal as a necessary step to address threats to school safety. "I regret that we live in a time when schools must invest in weapons detection systems to keep students safe," O'Connell said in the release. "The reality is that meaningful gun safety measures by state and national leaders have remained out of reach, and we cannot wait for change that may never come." MNPS Board Chair Freda Player also expressed her support for the expansion, saying it is part of a broader effort to train security personnel, secure access to schools and prepare for emergencies. "As a school board, we are committed to providing the tools and resources needed to protect our students against another tragic situation like we experienced at Antioch High," Player said in the release. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville schools: Weapon detection system may expand to all HS campuses
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Yahoo
Nashville school threats on rise, reach double digits after Antioch High shooting
School threats are on the rise after a Jan. 22 shooting left two dead, including the shooter, and one injured at Antioch High School. It's been a little more than a week since 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante was killed and a 17-year-old classmate was injured after another 17-year-old boy opened fire and later shot himself in the school cafeteria, and Metro Police say there have been 10 arrests connected with violence in Nashville schools. Nine of the arrests were related to making threats against schools while the tenth arrest involved a student bringing a gun on school property, police said. More: Nashville mayor denounces additional threats of violence in wake of Antioch High shooting The new arrests come during a continuing wave of threats of mass violence that began in 2024 and after a July state law made it a felony to make such threats against schools. The measure followed a similar law that passed in 2023 requiring public schools to expel students for one year if they make a threat of mass violence. The expulsion law was meant to serve as a deterrent against threats in the wake of The Covenant School shooting. It has triggered at least two lawsuits, with parents arguing it's far too harsh. The suits say children are being held in juvenile detention and solitary confinement as well as being strip-searched and expelled. Here are the details police gave regarding the most recent arrests in Nashville: A 14-year-old male student was charged Jan. 28 for making threats as students were leaving for the day at John F. Kennedy Middle School. Nashville police said the teen warned students not to come to school tomorrow because he would be bringing a gun. Two teens were arrested Jan. 26 in separate cases for making electronic threats against principals. In one case, a 17-year-old girl from Antioch High School was charged with communicating a threat after police said she posted an Instagram threat against her principal. In another, a 13 year-old boy from Madison Middle School was charged with communicating a threat to a school official after police said he emailed threats to his principal. Three male students, two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old, were charged in unrelated cases for making threats on Jan 24. In the first case, a seventh grade student at Valor Flagship Academy made threats against Valor, Thurgood Marshall Middle School and John F. Kennedy Middle School, according to police, who said the boy later admitted to making the threats to "scare" other students in his class. Another 13-year-old from Haynes Middle School posted an Instagram story threatening to "shoot up" multiple area schools. Police said the teen was found to have a history of making school threats. And, lastly, police charged a 14-year-old student at H.G. Hill Middle School who sent a photo of a gun to another student. In this case, multiple students came forward to school staff and reported that the student made threats to them and that he was planning to "shoot up" the school, police noted. Four arrests occurred on Jan. 23, the day after the Antioch High School shooting. An 11th grade student at Knowledge Academy had his backpack taken due to it not being clear, police said, noting that the boy threatened "Antioch part two" if his headphones were missing. The boy was removed from class and a search of his backpack produced nothing. In a separate case, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified of a threat against Antioch High School and Hillsboro High School posted on Instagram. Authorities responded to Dupont Tyler Middle School. where they interviewed a 12-year-old boy who admitted to posting the threatening story. Another 12-year-old at Apollo Middle School threatened to shoot four of his classmates around dismissal time. Police said the boy showed the students a picture of a gun. And an 18-year-old McGavock High School student was arrested after a student told school administrators found a gun inside the teen's backpack. Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@ and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville PD: School-related violence rises post-Antioch High shooting
