A 23-year-old former Marine from Trenton in New Jersey has been charged with making violent threats toward White Americans. This case highlights the problem of mass shootings that occur in politically charged environments.

According to The New York Times, Joshua Cobb, a Marine Corps veteran who was recently discharged, posted on social media a series of disturbing messages revealing plans for mass shootings that specifically targeted White people. He considered carrying out his act in gun-free zones.

Federal prosecutors announced on Monday that a Black man, formerly a U.S. Marine from New Jersey, had threatened to kill as many white people “as I possibly could” in an online rant.

Joshua Cobb was admitted to the F.B.I. Agents in an interview conducted last month admitted that Cobb had written the threatening messages, had posted other ominous remarks, and had described in detail several websites he considered as possible targets.

The complaint states that during the interview Mr. Cobb discussed his affinity towards other mass shooters. These included the gunman responsible for the murder of 17 people in Florida in 2018 and a white teenager responsible for the racist killing of 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022.

Mr. Cobb (23), of Trenton was charged with a single count of transmitting an obscene threat in the course of interstate or foreign commerce. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey announced that he was to appear in Federal District Court, Trenton on Monday afternoon before a magistrate. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had appeared in court.

Cobb began posting threats on social media in December of 2022. Federal prosecutors have detailed his threats. In a post threatening to cause “mayhem” on the white community, he stated that he wanted to “erase them”. In this case, I want to erase them all.

These were not just idle rants on digital platforms. Cobb, arrested in May 2023 had already purchased several weapons that he intended to use to kill White Americans. He also chose locations for the planned attack including a Robbinsville gym and grocery store. He wrote: “I already have a place in mind that I’ve been to for the last year, and I know nobody is armed there to stop me spraying them down to the ground.”

Federal authorities were alerted to Cobb’s messages, and they traced the source back to his IP address and social media accounts. The FBI confirmed that Cobb had planned out his attack meticulously, stating that he “acquired” two of the four weapons he intended to use.

According to NBC News, an FBI affidavit states that the former Marine posted under the name “1dayUsuffer”. He identified himself as a Black male.

He wrote about the difficulties of young men living in America and that they have “so many obstacles against us, we can’t excel no matter what we do.” The FBI agent stated that the FBI agent was targeting “especially those like me who are black and come from poverty” and wanted to cause violence.

According to an FBI affidavit, Cobb was interviewed by the FBI on the Marine base of California. He admitted that the social media accounts were his, and told agents that he still had homicidal thoughts.

The affidavit claims that Cobb has fantasized about attacking gyms or grocery stores frequented by what he calls “rich-as–white people.” He also said that wealthier people don’t “know what it feels like to be in a bad place.” He said: “My thing was to bring pain to them.”

Cobb said in one of his online rants that he wanted to “target white people”, because “as an African male, they would never understand my struggles.”

In a particularly menacing post, he wrote, “I plan to now continue accumulating the necessary equipment needed to execute. Once all equipment is in, time will then tell. You will all die,” according to the New York Post.

Cobb faces a maximum of five years in jail and a fine of $250,000 if convicted.