A Texas man was confined to federal prison for five years after threatening a massacre at a convention of conservative youths in Florida. Alejandro Richard Velasquez Gomez, 20, of San Antonio, levied his threats via social media against the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, a gathering organized for conservative activism on college campuses aligned with Donald Trump's ideology.
Last Wednesday, Velasquez was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to interstate threatening communication in the previous year. According to KSAT, the 20-year-old posted on Instagram that the inaugural day of the summit would witness "the day of retribution, the day I will have revenge against all of humanity". Despite purchasing a plane ticket from Austin to Tampa for the event on July 22, Velasquez called off his travel plans just hours before his intended departure.
Investigators drew unsettling parallels between Velasquez's intended actions and the horrific violence executed by Elliot Rodger in 2014, who, at 22, claimed the lives of six students and wounded numerous more in a spree near the University of California, Santa Barbara, before ending his own life. A disturbing blueprint for mayhem emerged, signaling potential tragedy that, had it come to fruition, would have reverberated across the lives of numerous families.
In a statement obtained by AP News, U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza from the Western District of Texas revealed that Velasquez attempted to derail the FBI's investigation. He reportedly conscripted a cadre of minor girls, to expunge information from his online accounts and even reached out to witnesses to conceal evidence and sway their testimonies.
“This man used social media to broadcast the message that he intended to travel across the country and carry out a violent act at an event catering to young political activists,” Esparza stated.
