High school student charged with threat of mass violence after discovery of plan for school shooting

A Maryland high school student has been charged with threat of mass violence after authorities discovered what they say is  evidence he plans to commit a school shooting.

Montgomery County Department of Police said Thursday that 18-year-old Alex Ye was arrest after the discovery of a 129-page document in which he purportedly writes about committing a school shooting and strategizes how to carry out the act, according to CNN. 

Authorities say they learned of the writings after an exchange Ye had on Instagram's messaging with an unidentified person who knew Ye from an inpatient treatment at a local psychiatric facility, according to the arrest warrant. 

The person messaging with Ye purportedly felt after the exchange that school shooting was “imminent," the warrant also states. 

Ye says the writings are his "memoir,” which begins with a disclaimer that it is a work of fiction, also according to the warrant. 

“Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he wants to be famous,” police said in the news release.

Ye was hospitalized in 2022 for “threatening to ‘shoot up a school’ and homicidal and suicidal ideations,” according to the arrest warrant.  

Last month, FBI agents interviewed a school counselor who worked with the student as recently as last year who said Ye would “express violent thoughts such as shooting up the school, wanting to hurt other people, and would smile while saying it," CNN also reports.