Student arrested for plans to shoot up 2 Maryland schools as detailed in manifesto

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Andrea Ye, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye, was arrested on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, by the Montgomery County Police Department.

The arrest follows a joint investigation by MCPD and the FBI Baltimore Field Office, initiated after the FBI notified MCPD about a 129-page "manifesto" authored by Ye.

In the document, Ye writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act. Ye also contemplates targeting an elementary school and says that he [sic] wants to be famous.

A search warrant obtained by MCPD led to internet searches, drawings and documents related to threats of mass violence.

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The Montgomery County School District says Ye has not attended in-person classes since 2022 and has been learning remotely.

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This shooting immediately brought to mind the transgender shooter who killed students and staff in Nashville in a 2023 shooting that rocked the nation. That killer was also a female teen who identified as a male and fantasized about shooting Christians and white people.

Unlike the Covenant school shooting, however, where Baptist leaders petitioned the courts to keep the manifesto hidden (but some of it was leaked by Steven Crowder anyway), Maryland authorities released some of Ye's manifesto in the initial wave of court documents.

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Pg 1: I want to shoot up my school. I've been preparing for it for the past few months. As I sit in front of my dad's gun case and stare at the sleek, black gun inside, all I can think about is my finger on the trigger, taking aim, and killing people. The gun is an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. It's the kind of gun with a long barrel and a stock you put up against your shoulder. This gun is going to change lives tomorrow.

Pg 2: As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets. These ones are close to the entrance and have windows in the doors. I need to figure out how I'll sneak the gun in. Maybe a duffel bag will work. I just hope security doesn't stop me.

Pg 2: Though I enjoy the hunting aspect of guns, I have contemplated making bombs. The instructions to make them are surprisingly available online. I could build one with a pressure cooker and remote control car. Or I could make chemical weapons through mixing ammonia and bleach. The problem with that is that it would require a gas mask and bombs are time consuming to build.

Pg 3: 1 have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets. And, I run the risk of getting attacked or tackled midway through with high schoolers. I also hated elementary school. The teachers were evil and the other students were little assholes. I always got in trouble and had to sit out during recess. The other kids would pretend to be my friends but make fun of me to my face. It would be the perfect revenge.

Pg 3: High school's the best target. I'm the most familiar with the layout, I know where the doors with windows are, and it's the most convenient to enter. Truthfully, I would rather become a serial killer than a mass shooter. Serial killers are romanticized a lot more.

They get tons of love letters and Netflix documentaries about them. Mass shooters are brushed off unless they are truly unique or good-looking.

Pg 3: It'd be hard to tell me apart from the hundreds of other Asian guys at my school in a police lineup. My school is mostly Asian and white. It's in upper-middle class Rockville. It's a suburban city in Maryland where almost everyone goes to college.

Pg 8: 1 pace around my room like an evil mastermind. I've put so much effort into this, it has to go well. I don't bother posting any cheesy "Don't go to school tomorrow if you value your life" posts for my hundred or so Instagram followers. The last thing I want is to get reported and get a SWAT team sent to my home. I picture the news stories. Deranged killer slays 17. There were no signs, says family and school. Twenty dead, fifteen injured at Rockville school. I plan on shooting myself once the police get there, so I will never be able to see the news stories. I am pretty scared. What if I fail at killing myself and live the rest of my life disabled and serving a life sentence? Maryland doesn't even have the death penalty, which would be preferable in my opinion.

Pg 20: Millions of people die each day of cancer, old age, etc. and it's no big deal. But shoot someone and suddenly everyone is all concerned. The news reports on it, and protests for gun control happen. Nobody can escape death in the end. Why does it matter who delivers the final blow? It would bring me a lot of joy and satisfaction to kill, so it's kind of worth it, in a way.

Pg 38: There's a newspaper announcing a new mass shooting at an elementary school. The kill count isn't very high. I could probably beat it. My ultimate goal would be to set the world record for the most amount of kills in a shooting. If I have enough time, I'll try to decapitate my victims with a knife to turn the injuries into deaths.

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