Investigators probe links between Bend school shooter and violent extremist groups

Federal and state law enforcement agencies are investigating links between online violent extremist groups and the 16-year-old shooter who killed three children and a teacher at a Bend elementary school last week, multiple sources told OPB.

As Bend residents recover from the devastation, they search for answers and accountability. The questions focused primarily on how the shooter obtained the shotgun he used at Silver Rail Elementary School. Investigators are working to determine the shooter’s motive and whether others online encouraged or helped plan the mass shooting. Local sources said they had not yet confirmed whether there were any accomplices.

Four sources familiar with the investigation, including law enforcement officials, spoke to OPB on condition of anonymity because the active investigation into the shooter’s motives is in its early stages.

It’s not yet clear what evidence investigators seized or sought, but sources with knowledge of the case said investigators developed a profile of a teen who was very online and socially disaffected. The teen’s mother, Shauntai Nickerson, did not return several calls from OPB.

Spokespeople for the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to OPB’s questions about the Bend shooting investigations. A representative for the Deschutes County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment.

Sheila Miller, a spokeswoman for the Bend Police Department, which is leading the investigation, declined to comment.

“We have not released any of this information and will not confirm it at this time,” Miller wrote in an email.

Multiple sources said law enforcement was investigating the shooter’s ties to what the FBI calls “nihilistic violent extremist” groups, an umbrella term used by federal law enforcement to describe groups without a clear ideology. A prominent example of this category is “764,” a decentralized online network that, according to the bureau, wants to “sow chaos and facilitate the destruction of society” and “glorify violence, massacres and self-harm.”

Sources with knowledge of the investigation said “764” was one of the groups they were investigating in connection with the Bend shooting.

The groups, according to court records and law enforcement sources, operate on platforms including Discord, an online gaming and chat app. Investigators have served search warrants on Discord and other online platforms in the Bend case, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation told OPB.

Discord did not immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment. On its website, Discord indicates that it is cooperating with law enforcement.

This is the second time in a month that law enforcement has identified the group “764” in connection with an attack at an Oregon school. In Multnomah County, law enforcement linked the group to an investigation into a Benson High School student who released toxic chemicals in the school cafeteria that could have harmed others.

Links between young perpetrators of violence and nihilistic views are emerging more frequently, according to researchers who study acts of mass violence. These are individuals – often adolescents – without a clear political or ideological motive for the violence they commit. Earlier this month, the Justice Department obtained guilty pleas from two alleged “764” leaders.

There are subcultures on the Internet that idolize violence, even mass shootings, researchers say. Some of those who gravitate toward these communities have been incited by others to commit violence, said James Densley, a criminology professor at Metro State University in Minnesota.

“There are degrees of participation. There are people who are consuming content, but then there are others who are actively contributing to the content. They are truly participating in that culture,” said Densley, co-founder of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University.

Diffuse online platforms with their own communities and subcultures have increased the ability of young people and alienated people to find such groups, Densley said. But some groups practice extortionary behavior.

“There are also these coercive online communities where adults literally exploit young people,” Densley said.

The Oregon Department of Justice is currently investigating Discord for failing to protect minors on its platform, regardless of the Bend shooting. Discord did not respond to an emailed question about the state’s investigation.

On Monday, the agency sent Discord a civil demand letter requesting information on teen accounts dating back to 2021.

“As part of a broader review of social media and AI technologies that have the power to harm children, the Oregon Department of Justice is investigating whether Discord failed to protect minor users, despite assurances that they had protections in place,” Attorney General Dan Rayfield told OPB on Tuesday. “These companies need to be closely monitored before more children are harmed, and if they put our children at risk, there must be immediate accountability.” »

Joni Auden Land contributed to this report.