DETROIT — FBI agents Friday arrested an Upper Peninsula man accused of threatening a mass killing at an East Lansing synagogue on the fifth anniversary of an attack that killed 51 people in New Zealand.
Seann Patrick Pietila, 19, of Pickford was charged with leveling threats on social media, including Instragram, that included comments about neo-Nazi ideology, anti-semitism and glorifying mass shootings, most notably the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.
His arrest, and search of his family's rural home 45 miles northeast of the Mackinac Bridge, represents the latest case of violent extremism in Michigan, which has drawn national attention since FBI agents foiled a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.
