A Venice man has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for possessing an unregistered firearm after he was arrested for making several online threats of committing a mass shooting.
Alexander Lightner, 27, was arrested in January 2024 after he made the online threats in the name of white supremacy and extremism, according to previous reporting.
Lightner was sentenced June 12 after he pleaded guilty on March 11, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida.
The news release states Lightner was a member of Terrorgram Collective, an online organization promoting beliefs that the white race is superior. The then 26-year-old made several posts on the messaging platform conveying he was planning to conduct a racially or ethnically motivated mass causality event, according to previous reporting.
In one post, Lightner wrote that 2024 shall have “saints.” The term “saints” was explained in the news release as a trend within white supremacist online circles where individuals “who have committed severe acts of violence motivated by hate are venerated as saints.”
When law enforcement officers investigated Lightner’s residence on Jan. 5, 2024, they found multiple firearms, a firearm silencer, thousands of rounds of ammunition and a copy of Mein Kampf. Federal agents also found propaganda related to white supremacy and accelerationist ideology, a term that white supremacists have used to describe their desire to quicken the collapse of society, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Previous reporting stated that Lightner told investigators he made the posts while drunk and wanted attention from the online community.
Gabriela Szymanowska covers the criminal justice, courts and legal system for the Herald-Tribune. Reach out with a news tip to gszymanowska@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice man sentenced to 51 months in federal prison in connection to mass casualty threat
Reporting by Gabriela Szymanowska, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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