Seann Patrick Pietila, 19, of Pickford, Chippewa County, Michigan, United States previously lived with his mother Brittany Marie Stob near the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Michigan. He is accused of having communicated with others on social media and evincing anti-Semitism, a neo-Nazi ideology, glorification of past mass shooters and a desire and intent to mimic past mass shooters or mass casualty events.
Pietila is allegedly inspired by Anders Behring Breivik, 44, of Oslo, Norway and Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 32, of Grafton, New South Wales, Australia. On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed 77 people by using a car bomb in Oslo and a semi-automatic rifle and a semi-automatic pistol in Utøya, Norway and on March 15, 2019, Tarrant killed 51 people by committing two consecutive mass shooting in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
During the 2020-2021 school year, Pietila attended Eastern High School in Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan. In the second week of June 2023, he moved from East Lansing to Pickford.
On June 13, 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation received a report of threatening online communications involving Pietila. On Instagram, he allegedly discussed his plan to attack Shaarey Zedek Congregation, a synagogue in East Lansing, on March 15, 2024.
On June 16, 2023, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Pietila’s home in Pickford and arrested him. The agents found in his home ammunition, a shotgun, a rifle, a pistol, a Nazi flag, magazines, knives, gas masks and military manuals and other firearm accessories.
When interviewed by the agents, Pietila admitted taking part in conversations about committing mass casualty incidents or mass killings. However, he claimed he did not intend to follow through with the mass killings he had discussed.
Right after Pietila’s arrest, he made his first court appearance and was charged with one count of interstate communication of threats. On June 22, 2023, he will attend a detention hearing.
CONAN Daily 