Neo-Nazi Was Behind Walmart Mass Shooting Plot, Group Claims

A Texas man police say was planning a mass shooting at a Walmart appears to be connected to a neo-Nazi group that describes itself as the “extremist alternative to the 12-step program.”

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office say that they have arrested Coleman Thomas Blevins, 28, on a warrant for a “terroristic threat to create public fear of serious bodily injury.” The sheriff’s office said they were investigating Blevins in the week prior to his arrest and confirmed his “affiliation and networking with extremist ideologies.” 

Police say on May 27 they saw a message “indicating that Blevins was preparing to proceed with a mass shooting” and specifically threatened a local Walmart. Local police worked with the FBI, the Secret Service, and the Texas Department of Public Safety to make the arrest. 

Police said they searched Blevins’ home and found “firearms, ammunition, electronic evidence, concentrated THC, and radical ideology paraphernalia, including books, flags, and handwritten documents.” Police say Blevins is currently awaiting charges.

“The plot interrupted in this case is unthinkable,” said Sheriff Larry Leitha. 

The sheriff’s department posted a photo showcasing various firearms and paraphernalia they found at Blevins property, including a shirt featuring the logo for the Injekt Division, an accelerationist neo-Nazi community active on Telegram.

Members within the community have posted frequently about Blevins since his arrest. They claim he was a well-known member known as “Korb Taran”—an account that has posted images of a man who looks like Blevins and has not posted since the day of his arrest. The group has had several open discussions about the man’s activity in the group and members are currently making propaganda based around his previous posts and mugshot. The Telegram page for the group began in February. Other groups have made posts about their belief Blevins is “a fed.”

In an appearance on a far-right podcast, a man going by “Korb’’ who is described as the president of the group described it as an “extremist alternative to the 12-step program, hence the syringe logo... Extremism and purpose is the only way to abstain from bad habits.”

Marc-André Argentino, a research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, told VICE News the group is focused on the idea that the modern man has become weak and the white man’s identity has been reduced to an illness. These accelerationists perceive themselves “as the cure that will enact the 14 words.” (The 14 words are a white supremacist slogan.) 

“The focus is on the power of man as a cure and tool of propaganda and superiority,” said Argentino. “Part of it is a meme but it’s also the celebration of the destruction of social structures by the natural order.”

In a post made just a day before the arrest, the Korb Taran account urged its followers to watch gore videos to “become acquainted with the visceral reality of war, but do not allow yourself to become desensitized to degenerate acts of sadism.” 

“The Holy War we’re all itching for will rid the world of that kind of Barbarism.” 

“I’m grooming you for terrorism,” another post said. “This is a suicide cult because I hate most of my friends, but the ones I like this is a doomsday cult.” 

Someone has created a GoFundMe page for Blevins under the name “Free Korb.” It has only raised $110 of the needed $250,000 bond. 

The photo posted by the sheriff’s department also shows a range of literature popular in accelerationist circles. This includes the Turner Diaries, Revolt Against the Modern World, and Harassment Architecture. 

Blevins also owned several flags connected to extremist ideology or movements, including a Falange flag (connected to the Spanish far-right), a flag bearing a sonnerad (a symbol well known in neo-Nazism), the Confederate flag, a Calvary variant of Russian Orthodox, and others. Also contained within Blevins’ property was a Saudi flag and a Qur’an.

The flags and literature don’t point towards a consistent ideology but more of a wide interest in fascism. Argentino told VICE that Blevins is “an example of how amorphous the accelerationist space is.” 

“There is no fixed ideology or group,” he said. “Rather there is a memeplex between various threat actors and various esoterist and extremist concepts that are being adapted.” 

Blevins remains in police custody. Kerr County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to questions about Blevins’ arrest.

Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter.