Alleged avatar of Nicholas Welker (Image by way of FBI)
An American neo-Nazi who glided by on-line names corresponding to “King ov Wrath” and “ilovehate5150” has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill a reporter who was protecting his terrorist group.
Nicholas Welker was taken into custody by the FBI Tuesday after allegedly serving to to create an web meme that explicitly threatened the lifetime of a U.S. journalist after which sending it instantly to the reporter on Twitter. Welker has been charged with conspiracy to transmit threatening communications.
The reporter nor the outlet just isn’t named within the courtroom paperwork.
Welker was an alleged chief inside the worldwide neo-Nazi group, Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), in accordance to courtroom paperwork. In addition to his different pseudonyms, he additionally allegedly glided by “DankTree2316.”
The Feuerkrieg Division is a now-disbanded neo-Nazi group that was brazenly accelerationist—which means it wished to hasten the collapse of society to construct a white ethnostate from the ashes—and had ties to a plethora of violent crimes dedicated by younger males, lots of them minors. Members of the group have been charged with little one abuse, assault, and plotting violent actions.
Like many different on-line neo-Nazi teams, the Feuerkrieg Division loves to use memes as propaganda. So when the group allegedly felt threatened by a reporter wanting into them, Welker and his fellow neo-Nazis went to work.
The piece of propaganda specifically confirmed a photograph of the journalist with a gun pointed at their head with messages “race traitor,” “journalist fuck off,” and ”you’ve got been warned.” The meme additionally contained their identify and place of employment. Welker allegedly had requested one other neo-Nazi to create it and when he noticed his imaginative and prescient come to life he responded with an emoji that includes a smiling face lined in hearts.
Welker then allegedly despatched the threats instantly to the reporter on Twitter asking him if he’s seen their newest work. According to the courtroom paperwork, an FBI agent was ready to verify Welker’s id due to the work of antifascist researchers and remarkably sloppy operational safety. After antifascist researchers outted Welker, he confirmed it inside the Feuerkrieg Division chatrooms. A month later, he adopted up by writing: “Nicholas Hazen Welker Santa Clara County Department of Corrections. That’s my information[.] In case I go missing”, earlier than offering a date of beginning.
The Department of Justice described the Feuerkrieg Division as a racially motivated violent extremist group that had “cells in multiple states.” The group took inspiration from Atomwaffen Division and was expressively accelerationist in nature. Like others inside this neighborhood of teams, they drew from an aesthetic that embraced terrorism and violence.
The Feuerkrieg Division was initially founded within the Balkans by a 13-year-old Estonia boy who was going by “Commander.” The group grew to become identified for the violent actions of its members, demise threats, and propaganda. In 2019, U.Ok. police arrested one member for plotting a mass taking pictures assault and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old woman. One British teenager who was a frontrunner pleaded responsible to 12 terrorism expenses in 2021, making him considered one of Britain’s youngest convicted terrorists. The group was declared a terrorist group by the U.Ok. in 2020.
Like different teams on this neighborhood, the Feuerkrieg Division had ties to the Order of Nine Angles, a satanic neo-Nazi group related to little one abuse and violent crimes.
Welker has not but entered a plea. Hehe faces 5 years in jail if discovered responsible.
