Trans high schooler arrested for planning school shooting

Montgomery County police have charged an 18-year-old trans-identified high school student in connection with plans to commit a school shooting. Authorities discovered a 129-page document that detailed her plans to carry out the shooting at a high school and elementary school, stating that “little kids make easier targets.”

The writings belong to Andrea Ye of Rockville, Maryland, a student who identifies as a boy and goes by the name Alex. On Wednesday, the Montgomery County Police Department arrested the teenager following a joint investigation between the police and the FBI Baltimore Field Office. 

According to an MCPD press release, the FBI notified the police about the 129-page memo that appeared to contain the student’s plans to commit a mass shooting at Wootton High School and Lakewood Elementary School. 

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The police took the student into custody, and she was charged with threats to commit mass violence. Ye is being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit while she awaits a bond hearing. 

An arrest warrant contains excerpts from Ye’s writings, which stated that her goal was to “set the world record for the most amount of kills in a shooting.” 

While Ye claimed that the writings were a work of fiction, someone with whom she shared the document with contacted the police last month after noticing that the character in the supposed story bore a “striking resemblance” to Ye.

The student’s writings stated that she would “cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets.” Another line reads: “I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets.”

The person Ye shared the document with, referred to as “Witness One” in the arrest warrant, contacted the Baltimore County Police Department, which called on the Rockville Police Department to conduct a welfare check on March 3. According to the report, Ye’s family denied the policy entry and refused to show them the writings that had created cause for concern without a warrant. 

“Shortly after police responded to Ye’s residence, Ye revoked access to the document from Witness-One. Witness-One did not finish reading the document and did not know if additional information relating to details of a school shooting existed in the document,” the arrest warrant stated. “Sergeant Saffar of the MCPD BAAU/Threat Assessment Team was notified of the event on 03/04/2024. Sergeant Saffar immediately recognized Alex Ye from prior threat assessment investigations.” 

According to the report, Ye was previously hospitalized in December 2022 for homicidal and suicidal thoughts, and for threatening to “shoot up a school.” The teenager was eventually released from the hospital in January 2023; however, the report noted that “Ye was still preoccupied with self-harming, school shootings, and explosives.”

“As reported to MCPD and FBI investigators, from approximately [Feb. 20, 2023, to July 20, 2023,] Ye was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Pediatric Unit for the homicidal ideations,” the document stated. “Ye also claimed to be Jesus Christ and was going to crucify himself. When Ye was discharged, he was sent to a residential facility.”

The arrest warrant also showed Ye’s search engine history, which included queries about various school shootings from the past few years and nearby gun ranges.

In addition to the search history, the arrest warrant included a December 2023 Instagram message Ye wrote that reads, “Yeah but also I feel like shooting people would be fun and causing fear.” Another message Ye wrote that same month stated, “I’ve also told way too many people that I want to shoot up my school like random people know.”

Ye’s search engine history also included queries about the March 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter in that case, who also was a woman who identified as trans, killed three 9-year-old students and three adults.