FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A California man has been arrested for allegedly making online threats toward the families of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victims.
Officials charged Brandon Fleury with making threats in interstate communications and cyberstalking after they executed a search warrant at his Santa Ana home.
According to a federal criminal complaint affidavit, Fleury used Instagram to tag the accounts of relatives and friends of students killed in the Feb. 14 shooting.
The posts he tagged them in reportedly threatened to kidnap one of the message’s recipients, while another cheered the deaths of the victims and asked them to cry.
The FBI said Fleury went by at least five handles, some of which were called @nikolas.killed.your.sister, @bullseyetauntsyou_ and @angie.and.lola. They claim he admitted to running the accounts.
The friends and family members of the victims filed a harassment report with the Broward Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 22.
In the report, those harassed showed screenshots of the menacing messages to BSO deputies.
“I killed your loved ones hahaha,” one message read.
“They had their whole lives ahead of them and I [expletive] stole it from them,” another message read.
Some of the messages mentioned Jaime Guttenberg, who was killed in the shooting.
“Eat some poop for Jaime this holiday season,” read one message. “I killed Jaime, fool. I’m her murderer.”
One message sent from the account named @nikolas.killed.your.sister was directed toward Jaime’s brother.
“I killed your sister. It was fun,” the message read.
Investigators said they came to the conclusion that the accounts belonged to him because the IP address was the same.
The FBI traced the IP to his home where he lived with his father.
On Christmas Day, two people — only noted as “JG” and “LS” in the affidavit — were tagged in messages by an account called @teddykillspeople.
“I’m your abductor. I’m kidnapping you fool,” the message read. “I killed Janice Ott and Denise Naslund.”
Ott and Naslund were abducted and murdered by serial killer Ted Bundy, who officials said Fleury expressed strong interest in.
On New Year’s Eve, Fleury allegedly mentioned a person with initials “MS,” whose son “AS” was also a victim in the shooting.
“Little AS will never play music again,” the post stated.
An account named @nikolasthemurderer mentioned teacher Scott Beigel, killed that day at the age of 35 as he protected students.
“I killed Scott Beigel! I shot him dead,” the post read.
Fleury told authorities the messages were not threats but more like taunts.
He also said he had a fascination with the Parkland shooter.
Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime, told 7News that he’s “thankful it has been handled.”
Max Schachter said, “I want to thank the FBI for all of their efforts in bringing this individual into custody.”
Fleury is expected to appear in federal court in Broward County on Monday.
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