Feds Release Details on Planned UFC 250 Attack

Five suspects have been charged so far for their alleged involvement in a plot to target the UFC 250 event at the White House with explosive drones and snipers in order to “jumpstart” a revolution in the United States, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affidavit and the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

FBI Director Kash Patel reported on Tuesday that the agency prevented the attack, which it first became aware of on June 10.

The Alleged Plot to Attack UFC 250

Among those arrested was Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old whose mother contacted law enforcement due to concerns related to her son’s behavior online and recent firearms purchases, the affidavit revealed.

While executing a search warrant on Proper’s phone, the FBI and local law enforcement say they accessed chats on the messaging app Signal that revealed “detailed plans to conduct an attack in Washington D.C.” The chat shared “detailed imagery of the National Capitol Region,” including “sniper locations, potential drone launch locations, and other detailed tactical planning.”

The court documents state that Proper allegedly admitted to investigators that he was “planning with others a coordinated attack against the United States government” during the UFC 250 event. The group behind the plot started communicating on TikTok earlier this year, according to Proper, and wanted to “protect the United States, which they believed was headed in the wrong direction.” The members apparently agreed that “the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt.”

Eventually, Proper and “some of the more serious members of the group,” began communicating via the encrypted communications app Signal. It was in this conversation that the plot purportedly shifted from theory into practice. Proper allegedly told authorities that the plan was to “stage a demonstration” near the White House, apparently to serve as a distraction while the group flew “small, unmanned aircraft (i.e. drones) laden with unspecified explosive devices which would detonate over the north side of the UFC arena.”

Proper said the explosions would force UFC attendees and “high value targets” to evacuate to the south, where members of the group would be staged as snipers. The goal, Proper told authorities, was to “jumpstart” a revolution in the United States.

‘High Value Targets’

In one chat obtained by authorities, Proper reportedly told his co-conspirators: “I got a possible target Marsha Blackburn is senator for Tennessee.” When asked to provide a reason, Proper allegedly said, “She’s taken money from the Israel pro Israel lobby and supports them.”

The 19-year-old also sent the group a list of “people we’re going to focus on,” which included Senators Jim Justice and Shelley Moore Capito and Reps. Carol Miller and Riley Moore, who are all Republicans from West Virginia.

Proper has been charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, attempted murder of any officer or employee of the United States, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and receipt or transfer of a firearm used to commit a felony.

Authorities also charged Californians Bryan Omar Roa, 24, and Michael Alan Thomas, 32; Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Missouri; and Abraham Hermosillo, 31, of Nebraska, although investigators reportedly believe as many as 23 co-conspirators may have been involved in the plot.

Director Patel said the “planned attacks were stopped cold,” but it remains unclear how close the plot came to being carried out – and how narrowly America may have avoided a civil war-level event.