- Giovanni Pimienta, 19, of Venice, Fla., was arrested Aug. 7 and charged with written threats to kill, threats to bomb or conduct a mass shooting, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The investigation began after an FDLE agent received information from the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force about an individual discussing obtaining weapons and carrying out a mass shooting at a mosque.
- According to the probable cause affidavit, Pimienta expressed an intention online to obtain an AR-15 and “shoot up a mosque” and allegedly discussed mass shootings with an individual in South Carolina. Investigators said he published a 61-page manifesto containing calls for social collapse, praise of violence and white supremacist, antisemitic, anti-Black, anti-Muslim and accelerationist views. The affidavit also describes an AI-generated video allegedly depicting Pimienta and a co-conspirator dancing in front of a South Carolina mosque and other online content praising perpetrators of an attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego.
- Investigators said Pimienta later admitted discussing a mosque shooting and described a separate alleged plan targeting a local church, which Pimienta photographed and discussed taking hostages, releasing those who agreed with his views and killing those who did not. According to the affidavit, Pimienta photographed himself holding his father’s handgun Aug. 6 and sent the images to online contacts with whom he had discussed the church attack. The following day, officers stopped him as he attempted to enter Venice High School property, later seizing a handgun from his residence. The investigation remains active.
Militant-Right Extremism