Alex Ye aka Andrea Ye trans 129 page school shooting plot leads to arrest of Rockville, Maryland teen’s memoir leads to concerns of an imminent mass shooting.
Just a work of fiction…? A Maryland transgender teenager with a history of mental health issues has been arrested for threatening mass violence after investigators say they uncovered evidence that they made plans to carry out a shooting at a Montgomery County school.
Alex Ye, 18, of Rockville, whose legal name is Andrea Ye, was arrested on Wednesday after law enforcement was alerted to a 129-page ‘memoir’ he allegedly authored that included descriptions of the transgender youth shooting up both a high school and elementary school, court records show.
While Ye had previously described the writings as a piece of fiction — and it featured a disclaimer as such, including that it doesn’t ‘represent the author’s beliefs’ — a witness with whom Ye shared the writings contacted authorities in early March because the witness said the writings bore ‘striking similarities’ to Ye, according to the court documents, ABC News reported.
Maryland transgender teen mass shooting plot arrest
The witness also believed the writings indicated Ye was prepared to carry out a mass shooting imminently and Ye later described the writings as ‘his memoir’ when speaking with law enforcement.
Authorities determined, based on their investigation, that the writings appear to contain ‘portions of fictional and non-fictional qualities,’ according to a Montgomery County Police release.
Court documents state that the witness told police that Ye’s ‘memoir’ was about ‘a transgender main character’ named ‘James Wang’ who was ‘being bullied in school and other issues that [the witness] believed were directly from Ye’s life and not indicative of fiction.’
Police said in court records that Ye’s sex is female but he uses male pronouns according to WBAL.
‘This gun is going to change lives tomorrow.’
Sample memoir writings included Ye’s protoganist saying, ‘I want to shoot up a school. I’ve been preparing for months. This gun is going to change lives tomorrow.’
Adding, ‘As I walk through the hallways, I cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets. I need to figure out how to sneak the gun in.’
The character allegedly states in Ye’s writings, ‘I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets.’
During their investigations, law enforcement said they found concerning social media posts and internet searches by Ye, including him allegedly querying ‘gun range near me,’ descriptions of an AR-15 and the phrase ‘But, I do recognize that my plan is fully unethical. It’s selfish and evil.’
Chat records obtained by police show Ye discussing thoughts of shooting up his school with another online user in September. In December, Ye allegedly wrote to another user, ‘My homicidal ideation has been getting worse lately to the point I might act on it eventually,’ adding in another message that month, ‘I’d want to kill a lot of people or it wouldn’t be worth it.’
There’s no allegation in the documents that Ye had possession of any firearms leading up to the time of his arrest.
Ye has not yet entered a plea and is being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit where he is awaiting a bond hearing.
Montgomery County Public Schools said that while Ye is an active student at Wootton High School in Rockville, he has been attending classes through a virtual program and hasn’t ‘physically attended’ school since late 2022.
Ye has a lengthy recent history of receiving inpatient care for apparent mental health issues including openly expressed thoughts of homicidal and suicidal ideation and what he described as a history of suffering abuse, the court records state. The witness who first alerted law enforcement to what police also called Ye’s ‘manifesto‘ knew him from when they were both in inpatient treatment at a psychiatric care facility.
According to the court documents, Ye was hospitalized in 2022 ‘for threatening to ‘shoot up a school” as well as other issues. Police say Ye was released in January, 2023, but was still pre-occupied with self harming, school shootings and explosives.
Ye was evaluated at his home and then hospitalized again in March 2024 shortly after the police investigation began, as part of an emergency evaluation petition according to court records. The hospital then raised an alarm with school and law enforcement officials because of ‘the threat posed by Ye.’
A counselor who had worked with Ye told authorities that he ‘would express violent thoughts such as shooting up the school’ and ‘would smile while saying it,’ according to court documents.
The counselor also said Ye was ‘patient and okay with his plan being the ‘long game’ and wanted to be famous from this event.’
