US man arrested with van full of guns plotted to kill Joe Biden, court documents show
- Investigators said Alexander Treisman posted a question online on whether Biden received Secret Service protection for life
- The teenage loner was arrested in May after Kannapolis police searched his van that included firearms and US$509,000 in cash
Before his arrest in May in Kannapolis, near Charlotte, Alexander Treisman often mused online about violence.
“I was going to do a Columbine for a while,” the 19-year-old from Seattle wrote online in April. “(Now) I think it would be better to put it toward something more memorable.”
What Treisman had in mind was unclear. But federal investigators later found an online post on iFunny in which Treisman posed a question and may have offered a clue:
Treisman, according to court records, told investigators that his violent posts were not real and only part of his online persona. But investigators with the FBI office in Charlotte who tracked Treisman’s credit cards and mobile phone were able to place him at a Wendy’s fast food restaurant only 6km (four miles) from the former vice-president’s Delaware home on May 3.
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A search of Treisman’s phone showed that between April and May, he searched for Biden’s address and posted a question on whether Biden received Secret Service protection for life, an FBI affidavit released on Thursday shows.
Treisman, also known as Alexander Theiss, was arrested on May 27 after Kannapolis police searched his abandoned van outside a Main Street bank that included firearms, explosive material and US$509,000 in cash, which was believed to be Treisman’s family inheritance, court records show.
The cache of weapons included a Sig Sauer AR rifle, an Intratec 9mm Luger, a Lower AR receiver, a Kel-Tec Sub-2000, a .22 calibre rifle marked ArchAngel, and a Russian Mosin Nagant M91/30 bolt action rifle, according to the affidavit.
The search also uncovered books about survival, bomb-making, improvised weapons and Islam.
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In a statement released on Thursday, Kannapolis Police Chief Terry Spry said Treisman was charged with a concealed-weapon violation before the case was turned over to federal authorities.
The subsequent search turned up thousands of photos and hundreds of videos that led to Treisman being indicted in September on child pornography charges by federal prosecutors in Greensboro, records show.
However, as of Thursday, no charges had been filed that are tied to any plot against Biden, or other acts of violence.
The new court documents paint a disturbing portrait of a teenage loner who wandered the country, acquired guns and spoke often of mass violence – from school shootings and the killing of Black people, to crashing hijacked planes into buildings.
Treisman, by his own account, alienated friends and family with his often racist and violent comments, the federal documents indicate.
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He once told a friend that he thought of targeting homeless people. He called it, “taking out the trash,” documents show.
“So heres my plan,” Treisman wrote in a 2019 note on his phone, which was included in the FBI affidavit. “on Christmas or Black Friday, go to the mall food court with worktunes (great bass), a respirator (if tear gas is used) and a weapon of choice (i like the ab-10, its concealable and comes with a 30 rounder by default, though everyone chooses the ar15, im not saying its normie, just overused).”
“My hatred is for the complacent American people who will turn u in for their own satisfaction,” Treisman posted that same day. “But aside from former goals, my eyes are on the future. If anything I have to save Bernie while I can.”
Whether that meant killing Biden is not clear.
Treisman, who was denied bond this month, remained in the Cabarrus County Jail. The charges against him are pending.
