A 19-year-old man in Texas was arrested by the police last week for posting threatening messages on Facebook where he boasted his plan to attack people inside a church.
Nicholas Paul Amrine of Crowley, Texas, may face charges of terroristic threat with intent to influence after he posted entries on Facebook targeting the Convergence Church in Fort Worth.
His posts were made last month in which he warned people not to attend the church's "Fuse" youth ministry event on June 17.
Amrine was a member of the church and had attended youth group ministry sessions. Because of his erratic behaviour, Amrine was asked not to attend the sessions anymore, but he continued to do so until May 31.
His father was told by church elders that he was no longer welcomed at the church.
A member of the church alerted an associate pastor about Amrine's disturbing posts. The youth ministry event was cancelled due to safety concerns.
Amrine posted 13 initials of names which he described as his "s--t list" on June 2.
After this, he posted a photo of the Columbine High School massacre shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold which he called "heroes."
In another post on June 2, he wrote "I will sooner die than betray my own thoughts. But before I leave this worthless place, I will kill whoever I deem unfit for anything at all, especially life. And if you pissed me off in the past, you will die if I see you, because you might be able to piss off others and have it eventually all blow over but not me."
A female who was on the list sent Amrine a message, who told her about his plan to carry out a mass shooting event of "thirteen (13) people like Columbine" on July 22 "that would begin at 9:10."
In a post on June 3, Amrine said, "All the kids that forgot about me are going to get what they deserve."
When he was interrogated by police on June 4, Amrine admitted that he used his Facebook account to post threats of violence and warnings against Convergence Church.
He also admitted having a text conversation with the female witness in which he told her about his plan to carry out a mass shooting on July 22.
Amrine revealed that he was in the psychiatric ward for 26 days and one day in jail.
Last July 2, he posted an apology for what he wrote last June 3.
"I apologize to everyone for what I said back on June 3rd.. That is not who I am and I would never do such a thing. The things I posted on Facebook were wrong and I should have never done that. I love people and I would never hurt myself. I would never hurt other people or animals. Please forgive me for being so cruel," he said.
He followed this with a July 4 post, saying "It doesn't feel like a free country knowing I could be going to prison for up to 10 years over a Facebook post."
