Massachusetts

Bedroom Bazooka, ‘Culling': New Details on Mass. Guardsman Accused of Doc Leak

Prosecutors questioned how 21-year-old Jack Teixeira even received top secret clearance – saying he had a history of making comments about guns and violence, and had been repeatedly denied a firearms license because of concerns raised by local police

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An “arsenal” of weapons, including a bazooka, AR- and AK-style rifles and tactical gear – that’s just some of what federal investigators say they found in the bedroom of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira.

Teixeira is the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman facing upwards of 25 years in prison accused of posting classified documents online.

Federal prosecutors dropped nearly 50 pages of documents, photos, and other evidence just hours before Teixeira’s detention hearing Thursday.

Prosecutors alleged in November of last year, Teixeira said online if he had his way, he’d “kill an [expletive] ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded.”

The Air Force says it is investigating how classified documents got into the hands of Jack Teixeira.

In February of this year, he allegedly told someone online, he was tempted to make a minivan into an “assassination van” and discussed conducting a shooting in a “crowded urban or suburban environment.”

After Teixeira was arrested in April, the DOJ said smashed computers and other electronics were found in a dumpster behind his North Dighton home.

Prosecutors questioned how Teixeira even received top secret clearance – considering he had been suspended in high school for comments made about guns and violence, and had been repeatedly denied a firearms license because of concerns raised by local police.

In the fallout from all of this, we’ve learned the Air Force has suspended two commanders in Teixiera’s 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron.

Prosecutors said they plan to ask the judge to hold Teixeira behind bars indefinitely, arguing that, if released, Teixeira poses a “serious flight risk” -- and that he might still have access to, or knowledge of, classified information that would be valuable to hostile nations.

They added his defense team is asking he be released to the custody of his father.

That court hearing is set to get underway at 1 p.m. at Federal Court in Worcester. More on the hearing will be available here.

An FBI affidavit shows how agents tracked down Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who's accused of posting top secret U.S. documents online.
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