From One Extreme To Another : Devon Arthurs

0:00Speaker 1:So he walked into the leasing office of our apartment complex and looked me straight in the eye and goes, I just killed two people. I did it because the government is killing babies and families.

0:11Speaker 2:Did he leave a name or anything?

0:14Speaker 3:He didn't, no.

0:15Speaker 1:He just, like, started going on this rant about the government killing families and stuff overseas and that, you know, we needed to cherish our families. And then he's like, I'm going to go. You're going to be interviewed by the police.

0:28Speaker 4:On May 19, 2017, Amanda Hunter had just finished her shift at the leasing office of the Hamptons of Tampa Palms. It was just before 5.30 p.m. that a man walked into the office and calmly told her that he had killed two people. From there, the man left the office and walked to a nearby commercial building where he entered a marijuana dispensary and held the employees and customers hostage. Investigators would quickly learn that violence had erupted based on two competing ideologies that had been taken to the extreme.

1:00Speaker 5:This is Monsters.

1:01Speaker 4:Monsters Devin Arthurs was born on March 18th, 1999 to Alan and Laura Arthurs and grew up in Longwood, Florida, just outside of Orlando. Devin described his own childhood as not that great. He said that his parents divorced and they struggled financially. He spent most of his youth living with his father. Their house was foreclosed upon during the housing crisis in 2008. He grew up with a lot of anger and resentment, and one friend recalled being on a Skype call with Devin when he put his mother into a chokehold and called her a fat fuck when she tried to take away his computer. Like many teenagers who grew up in a broken home, Devin struggled to find his place in the world. He isolated himself and spent time online chatting with people who influenced him a great deal. People who knew him described him as someone who would easily become extreme about whatever he was into.

2:21Speaker 4:He met a number of friends while playing video games online, and some of them would become the other people involved in this story. It was in 2014 that Devin ordered a copy of Mein Kampf online, and when it arrived at his home, his father saw it and kicked him out after Devin threatened him physically. Unfortunately, that wasn't the right course of action for a kid who needed more guidance. Devin himself said that his parents were always busy and he fell through the cracks of supervision. That was something that made him more susceptible to being groomed into extremism, so punishing him with less supervision only added fuel to the fire. Devin moved in with his mother, who viewed his extreme beliefs as a phase. Based on the aforementioned story, she clearly wasn't able to control his behavior. In school, Devin's rants about his quote-unquote Aryan superiority were causing him to get into fights. One day, a Jewish student got fed up with his nonsense and pinned him to the ground.

3:20Speaker 4:Devin yelled, quote, I'm willing to die for National Socialism. It wasn't long after that Devin dropped out of school and went deeper into the rabbit hole of extremism. You see, the only way to believe the crap that Devin believed was to stay uneducated. Devin became brainwashed into believing an alternate version of history, one where the Holocaust never happened and events where Nazis had changed the world for the better. People who were educated are harder to convince of those things.

3:50Speaker 4:The founder of a neo-Nazi message board called the Daily Stormer had a style guide for how to talk to people on the site in a way that would help convert them. They were encouraged to target only young people as young as 11, and to avoid using quote-unquote college words, instead being told to stick to an 8th grade vocabulary. Probably not difficult for a group of uneducated racists. So Devin sat at home, playing video games and ranting about being superior to people who had literally never affected his life.

4:21Speaker 4:And this is what you have to know about people like that. Devin, a jobless high school dropout who spent all of his time on his computer at his mother's house, thought that he was superior to other people based on his skin color or heritage. You know, that black surgeon or the Jewish firefighter. They had nothing on Devin. Please. Brandon Russell was born in 1995 and grew up in the Bahamas. He went to an elite private school where he was seen as the class clown, though some said his off-color jokes would sometimes cross over to being distasteful.

4:56Speaker 4:After high school, Brandon enrolled in the University of South Florida in 2012. He studied nuclear physics, which Devin would later claim was specifically so he could make weapons. Brandon had been collecting small amounts of radioactive thorium since he was 15, which also fueled the rumor that he wanted to build a radioactive bomb, often referred to as a dirty bomb. Brandon was also very active on fascist websites and forums. Brandon met Devin on a white nationalist chatroom, and they quickly became good friends. They bonded over their shared agreement with outspoken fascists like James Mason. In Mason's book Siege, he wrote, Brandon seemed to be moved by that statement, and with Devin, he started a neo-Nazi group online called Atomwaffen Division in October of 2015. Atomwaffen is German for Atomic Weapon. When Brandon announced the formation of the group, he wrote this, quote, The irony of that statement is that the group only operated in chat rooms online for many years. They were literally all keyboard warriors, but I digress. They spent their time communicating on a website called TinyChat, where they recruited other impressionable youngsters. They

6:35Speaker 4:also used neo-Nazi websites like Iron March and Stormfront to connect with other like-minded individuals. They talked about building bombs and killing for their ideology. Devin wrote posts condemning Jews, blacks, and interracial relationships, calling the children of those relationships mongrels. And let's not forget that all people who say that kind of shit do have other races somewhere in their family line. Where do you think humans originated? Whether you believe in science or the Bible, neither describe the origins of human beings being white. There were two other young adults who eventually became good friends with Devin and Brandon.

7:16Speaker 4:Andrew Onischuk was born on April 27th, 1999 to Walt and Chris Onischuk and grew up in Wakefield, Massachusetts. His parents noticed his interest in fascism and neo-Nazi ideas and tried to rein in his behavior. He had an SS flag hanging in his room, but they wouldn't allow him to display a swastika, so he hung that flag in his closet. They enrolled him into an early college program at Bard College at Simons Rock, which is known as one of the most progressive schools in the country. They hoped Andrew would learn more about the world and see that his views were harmful, but he only lasted one semester.

7:53Speaker 4:He was kicked out after using a slur against a gay student and when he left the meeting, he threw up a Nazi salute. Unfortunately, Andrew's mind had already been hijacked by Brandon and Devin. They targeted young impressionable males and convinced them that their families were the enemy. So the help his family was trying to get him was seen as an attack against his identity. It's a very manipulative way to get people to join your cause and it's heavily used by cult leaders. On top of that, instead of accepting that their own behavior is what's keeping them down, they're taught to blame minorities. Andrew was kicked out of school and working at a pizza place due to his own actions, but to him, he was being oppressed by liberals. Jeremy Himmelman was born on March 16, 1995, and grew up in Walpole, another city near Boston, Massachusetts.

8:43Speaker 4:His parents divorced when he was seven years old, and Jeremy was diagnosed with ADHD and depression. He dropped out of high school when he was in 12th grade and drifted from one construction job to the next. He attempted suicide multiple times before receiving electroconvulsive therapy in 2015. Jeremy's sister, Alyssa, said her brother changed after the therapy. He got political and would go on rants that made no sense. After taking a DNA test, he became obsessed with his German heritage and started calling people cucks, bashing immigrants, and talking about quote-unquote gassing kikes. In 2016, he started carrying around a dog-eared copy of Mein Kampf, wearing a MAGA hat, and claiming he hated black people and Mexicans. After meeting Andrew through the Atomwaffen group, they became good friends and carried out what they called a sticker cost. On September 18, 2016, at the direction of Brandon, who referred to himself as Odin online, Jeremy and Andrew went to the Suffolk University campus in Boston and plastered flyers and stickers full of propaganda all over. While that was happening, Brandon joined the

9:54Speaker 4:Florida National Guard, something Devin claimed he did specifically to learn skills he could use in Atomwaffen and to steal supplies. Brandon's family has denied that was his reasoning, but he had written long blog posts about the need for their group to receive military and survivalist training. A friend said that after he returned from basic training, Brandon was even more fanatical about Atomwaffen. People described Devin as especially emotional regarding what other people said about him. It started while he was living as a neo-Nazi when other people made fun of him online. Someone made a meme with a picture of Devin that said, quote, I'm master race, please be my friend. People said he really took that kind of stuff hard. It would remain that way even after he stopped believing in the neo-Nazi ideals, or when he claimed to stop believing in them. It was in 2016 that Devin tossed aside his neo-Nazi affiliation and converted to Islam.

10:55Speaker 5:You have a faith, you said. What is your faith? I'm a Muslim. Okay. Does that coincide with this organization you're a part of? No, not at all. So how long have you been a Muslim? I've been a Muslim since June of 2016. Okay, so fairly recently. Yeah.

11:12Speaker 6:Have you still maintained a part in this organization, or is that about when your ties to this organization were cut?

11:16Speaker 5:My main ties to this organization is, like, I was a part of it out of necessity. I needed a place to stay away from my family. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I should have lived with them. I was just trying to get out of the house and stuff like that.

11:29Speaker 4:Once again, he was quickly an extremist. Some say he wasn't a true Islamist and believed his own version of the religion where he idolized the Prophet Muhammad as a white Aryan, seeing him as the ideal male form, which is absolutely delusional. He mixed his ideologies a bit, ranting online about degeneracy, which are negative ideas amongst both the alt-right and Islamic extremists. Records of Devin's online activities show him saying, See, I wouldn't be so mad if it wasn't for the fact you literally have millions of Western cuckolds ready to defend quote-unquote freedom. The freedom for their daughters to be pimped out by pornographic distributors. Freedom for their wives to be banged by countless guys while they are home. freedom to have their kids' innocence be robbed.

12:18Speaker 4:That ties into the repression of women, which is also represented heavily in both ideologies. About six months before the murders, Brandon was living in a rundown apartment near the University of South Florida campus. He had spent months trying to convince Jeremy to move down to Florida, but he couldn't get him to commit. Suddenly, Jeremy got a call from Brandon's father, saying his son had attempted suicide and was on life support in the hospital. Having been in the same position before, Jeremy wanted to help his friend, so he booked a flight to Florida as soon as he could.

12:51Speaker 4:Before he left, Brandon called him and told him it was a joke. He had a friend call and pretend to be his father. Jeremy wasn't happy about being manipulated, but he already had the ticket, so he flew down to live with Brandon and what he had been told would be a dream scenario. Only a week later, Jeremy took a train back to Boston where he found a place to share with some people who were not receptive to his extremist racist views. They made him stay in the basement. A few months later, when they told him he had to move out, he contemplated suicide again. Fortunately, he went to the hospital and received help for mental illness and at the same time realized he needed to change his life. Family members said that Jeremy wanted to distance himself from Adam Voffin and Andrew was with him, but at some point they were both sucked back in.

13:40Speaker 4:Brandon told them that he got a new place. It was a two-bedroom condo with a garage and the complex had a pool and a racquetball court. It was the perfect place for them to live it up for the summer. Jeremy and Andrew gave in and made the move down to the Sunshine State in April of 2017. Again, it wasn't the dream they were promised, but it was a nicer place than Jeremy had been to months earlier. Devin was living in the condo and Brandon was rarely there.

14:08Speaker 4:There was already an Adam Voffin banner in the living room along with a North Korean flag. In Brandon's room, he had a framed picture of Timothy McVeigh. You know, the mass murderer who killed 19 children. What a cool hero. There was also an American flag on the floor that Brandon and Devin used as a doormat. It's claimed that Jeremy and Andrew constantly took the flag, cleaned it off and hung it on the wall, only to have it back on the floor. What we know about Jeremy and Andrew regarding their distance from Attawaffen and their lack of involvement in what was going on in that condo only comes from their family, so it's a biased source. They are the victims, so they aren't here to defend themselves.

14:51Speaker 4:That being said, everything said about them is likely not entirely accurate. Their families obviously want to minimize Jeremy and Andrew's involvement in Atomwaffen and anything the group was planning. Devin claimed that they were very involved and were planning terrorist attacks.

15:09Speaker 5:Atomwaffen Division is a terrorist organization. It's a neo-Nazi organization that I was a part of before I converted. What's it called? Adam Thothen Division.

15:17Speaker 7:Okay.

15:18Speaker 5:And I remember my roommate, Brandon, he's alive, the guy that was in the American uniform. I hope he gets his shit together. I hope he gets his life together. He's a good person. But the things that they were planning were horrible. They were planning bombings and stuff like that on countless people. They were planning to kill civilians in life. Were they specific in their plans? Power lines, nuclear reactors, synagogues, things like that. And the reason why, like, I mention this is because in South Avenue, you go into the place, like, the same room where I unfortunately took their lives, there's a giant Azov Regiment flag that's in the background. Azov Regiment is an organization in Ukraine, which is an NS movement that crucifies people and has harmed a lot of people that came directly from there.

16:06Speaker 5:These people were not good people.

16:09Speaker 4:That is, of course, only Devin's narrative, which isn't entirely backed up by evidence. Both Jeremy and Andrew did have communications online where they said some pretty awful things, but it doesn't sound like they ever talked about carrying out any acts of terrorism. I believe, based on their online communications, they were somewhere between what their family said and what Devin said. Of course, while Brandon was trying to get them involved with more Adam Voffit actions, Devin was trying to convert them to Islam. He would quote the Quran and rant about marijuana use. That was uncomfortable enough, but Devin also refused to get a job. While Jeremy and Andrew found work through a temp service, they repeatedly pointed out job ads to Devin and he would make no effort to find employment. Brandon would give him $ 20 each morning.

16:57Speaker 4:Many people said that the friends got along just fine most of the time. They would hang out laughing and playing video games, but other times, Jeremy and Andrew in particular liked to poke fun at Devin's newfound religion. On May 19th, 2017, Devin's anger over a variety of things reached a precipice, and when Jeremy started insulting his Quran, it pushed him over the edge. At just before 5.30pm, Devin walked into the leasing office at the Hamptons of Tampa Palms and announced that he had just killed two people.

17:29Speaker 4:Then he left and walked to a nearby commercial area.

17:36Speaker 2:Hi, 15350 Amberley Drive. I have a white Caucasian guy. He came to the office saying that he just killed two people, and he's walking towards a shopping area. Is he a white male, black male? White male, green shirt, black pants. He's walking towards a, like a plaza right now where Peabody's is located. I'm trying to follow him, but he's He's aggressively walking. I'm afraid he's going to start shooting people. Do you see a weapon on him? He's grabbing his bag, so I don't know if he really has a weapon. I cannot see it, but he's grabbing the backside of his pocket.

18:10Speaker 1:He's grabbing the backside of his pocket.

18:13Speaker 2:Yeah, he has it again. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah, he definitely has it. He said that he killed two people just now. Okay, he went into the green shop cigar place, I think. He's in the green shop cigar place? Yes.

18:28Speaker 6:Okay.

18:28Speaker 2:He just walked in there. Did he say he just killed those people, or he's allowed to kill? Yes, he said that he killed two people. He said that he killed two people, right? That's what he just said. He came to my office, and he went to my employees, and he just went to them and said that he killed two people. And then he left and went to the shop? And then he walked, and I just walked pretty much, not behind him, but I just tried to follow him.

18:52Speaker 1:He's right there.

18:53Speaker 2:He hasn't come out just yet.

18:56Speaker 4:The callers had followed Devin at a distance and watched him walk into a marijuana dispensary called Green Planet. Inside, there were a number of employees and a customer at the register, paying for a purchase. After walking into the store, he raised a semi-automatic handgun and told everyone to get on the ground. When Devin began ranting about his anger over the U.S. bombing Muslim countries, a female employee told him she was also Muslim. Devin became angrier, berating her for working in a smoke shop and dressing inappropriately. Then he broke a number of pipes in the store. Devin would later say he didn't intend to kill anyone in the business. He believed that holding hostages would cause the SWAT team to come in and kill him, but that's not what happened. Officers arrived on the scene and talked to Devin as his hostages started to leave out the back door. Eventually, Devin removed the magazine from the pistols surrendered to the police. Everyone who had been in the store when Devin arrived was unharmed. Then officers made their way to the Hamptons of Tampa Palms, unit number 3723.

20:02Speaker 4:When they arrived at the condo, they could hear screaming from inside the unit. Inside, Brandon had returned home from National Guard drill and found Jeremy and Andrew dead. Officers witnessed Brandon run out the front door, still in his military uniform. Officers didn't know who he was or why he was screaming, so they placed him in handcuffs and detained him. Inside the condo, officers found the bodies of two males, which were determined to be deceased and then cleared the residence of any additional suspects. Investigators found the rifle that Devin had used to kill Jeremy and Andrew, an AK-47 that was owned by Brandon. They also found a shotgun in the closet in Brandon's bedroom. When Andrew's body was searched, a semi-automatic handgun was found tucked in his waistband. Throughout the condo were spent shell casings and projectiles.

20:51Speaker 4:That was all connected to the murder. As much as the crime was shocking, the evidence at the scene wasn't. It wasn't until investigators went into the garage that they found some surprising evidence. They found bags of potassium chloride, potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, red iron oxide, wires, fuses, pipe parts, and HMTD, which is a high-explosive organic compound with no current commercial or military application. It is primarily known as an unstable compound sometimes encountered in illicit or amateur contacts.

21:28Speaker 4:It was used in the 2005 London bombings, which killed 52 people. They also found a cooler with the thorium Brandon had been collecting. The EOD team arrived and took radioactive readings of the condo and found no abnormally high readings. They entered the condo and found a black duffel bag that contained a number of fuses and what they considered to be an improvised explosive device. They found the container with the thorium and a number of other containers with unknown powders. One container was x-rayed and they determined it contained another IED. EOD personnel removed the radioactive material and placed the IEDs into what's called a total containment vessel.

22:09Speaker 4:It's a heavy-duty metal chamber that explosives can be safely transported or disposed of in. Once the EOD team cleared the condo, investigators were able to return to their search. They found literature in the house that not only promoted fascist ideals, but also some that promoted domestic terrorism. There was a copy of the Turner Diaries proudly displayed next to a copy of Mein Kampf. There were books about radiation, atomic physics, weapons, terrorism, and stories directly from Nazi soldiers during World War II. Of course, they also found Devin's copy of the Koran, the book that supposedly ignited the murders.

22:50Speaker 4:Devin had been transferred to the Tampa Police Station for questioning. He remained calm and openly admitted to what he had done, expressing regret for his actions.

23:00Speaker 5:Are you feeling any physical ailments right now? I don't feel physical ailments. I feel like I don't I felt very calm and collected after I did it. I felt like I wasn't really capable of feeling empathy for it until we, like, I'm afraid of, I feel like I have no, like, I don't want to harm anybody in this room. I don't feel like that, but I'm concerned about how I would react to being around people there. Well, I'd be concerned about being around there because I don't want to harm them. I mean, like, I feel horrified about what I've done, but I also realize two reasons why it happened. I already have pretty much pled guilty to this in the sense that these people.

24:03Speaker 6:Were not innocent people. That's what I'll get into. We talked about that briefly when you came in here. Your feelings of lack of empathy may be understood when you explain to me Can.

24:18Speaker 5:All we ever want is the honest truth? I'll give you that. These people... I'll tell you exactly what happened today. Take it from the beginning.

24:28Speaker 3:I woke up.

24:29Speaker 5:I didn't wake up thinking that I'd harm somebody today. I remember... I'm very, very angry about what goes on in Iraq and Syria. The coalition bombings. I don't like the people that get killed there. I remember they kept on... getting me angry about that, kept on calling me a sand nigger, kept on calling me a goat fucker, etc. because of my faith. I got very, very angry by that. Who were they? The people that I killed. Andrew Otiscock and Jeremy Hill. And I remember I was getting continually angry and stuff like that. And then I was in a wire chat, which is an encrypted conversation with all these people. They're criticizing me for my beliefs and saying stuff like, you know, we need to kill every Jew, we need to kill every this, this, and that. And And I'm getting very, very angered by that. And at a very bad turn of events in the other room, I'm disassembling a Wasser 10 with not the intent to harm anybody. And I remember when I did that, I remember I hear Jeremy, he grabs my Quran off of the thing, and he says, you have your book of fairy tales here. And that set me over the limit.

25:38Speaker 5:And I remember in a blur, I shot them both, and I didn't I wasn't thinking clearly. I wasn't thinking sane. I wasn't thinking like a rational human being at that point. If I could go back, I would not do that, you know.

25:55Speaker 4:Right away, Devin discussed options to seek mental health treatment at the jail, and I don't think he's trying to set up an insanity defense. It's a very complicated issue. I believe Devin did have mental health issues, and I think he was aware of that, but I don't think the murders happened due to his mental health issues. That being said, if someone commits a crime and they do suffer from mental illness, the best way to help rehabilitate them is to provide them with psychiatric care. Along with his statements of not being in his right mind, he also labeled Jeremy and Andrew as not good people, which has also inspired a lot of debate. Like I said before, Jeremy and Andrew's family said they were distancing themselves from Adam Waffen. It was later learned that they had plans to return to Massachusetts in only a matter of days because they didn't agree with how Brandon and Devin acted.

26:45Speaker 4:Jeremy's girlfriend told the story about the American flag being used as a doormat to show they didn't agree with their roommate's extreme behavior. During Devin's interrogation, he framed the story in a way that Brandon was the only one who used the flag as a doormat, with himself not liking it, something that was hard to believe since Devin had become an Islamist extremist who was angry at the U.S. for their bombings overseas. In crime scene photos, there's no American flag anywhere in the condo, not on the wall or on the floor. This story is told from two biased sides, and the reality is likely somewhere in the middle.

27:23Speaker 4:Jeremy and Andrew definitely displayed behavior that would label them as racists and bigots, but there was no evidence they were interested in hurting anyone physically. There's a lot of talk online of punching Nazis and killing rapists, and that is walking a fine line of extremism on its own. At least when it comes to individual citizens carrying out those punishments themselves. Jeremy and Andrew might have been misguided young men who allowed themselves to be brainwashed by nonsense, but they didn't deserve a death sentence. Devin wanted to paint all of his roommates as domestic terrorists.

27:58Speaker 5:So, I mean, I remember you were in the other room. You were saying, like, I heard the word H-M-T-D referring to the explosives. Yes, yeah, we were discussing it.

28:08Speaker 7:100%.

28:08Speaker 5:I know these people, they know exactly how to build they knew exactly how to build bombs that could have destroyed this entire building. Who were these people? Adam Buffett. These people. Okay. Not these three individuals.

28:20Speaker 6:I mean, they're lumped in with that.

28:23Speaker 5:Brandon, Andrew. Brandon's literally somebody that has the knowledge to build a nuclear bomb. I'm not meaning about that. He's literally somebody that literally went to school for four years to study radiation, specifically to build a nuclear bomb. Do you know if these materials are inside that gunner right now? No, there's no nuclear materials. Actually, there is. Yes, there is nuclear materials in that garage. There is some nuclear materials. Okay, what's in that garage that you're concerned about? HMTD, yeah, those explosives. Yeah, some ammonium nitrate, I believe. And I know that there's some radiated materials that he was able to bring in through the Bahamas. Because he's a Bahamian citizen, he was able to bring it in. How did he bring it in? He brought it in through the airport.

29:06Speaker 5:He was able to spoof the people that were working there with the TSA. Okay. And do you know what, is it kept in a particular vessel inside the garage? Do you know where it's kept? It's in the garage or it's in the supply closet in his room. Okay. And you'll know it because it's a giant SS flag above a lot of the equipment, ammunition, and stuff like that.

29:24Speaker 3:Okay.

29:25Speaker 5:You know, the more that I tell you, the more you see the scale of how big things really are.

29:30Speaker 7:Yeah, no, no.

29:31Speaker 5:This is, I mean, absolutely serious stuff. So that's what I mean.

29:34Speaker 8:So it's not.

29:35Speaker 6:In which you can give me to assist with, like I said. Combating Of course, investigators wanted to know the specific terrorism plans.

29:34Speaker 5:That Brandon, Jeremy, and Andrew had.

29:55Speaker 6:Do you know about any specific plans that these two individuals had?

29:59Speaker 5:Yeah, they're planning on going down south to Alligator Alley and destroying 500 KV lines that were going along the road there. How are they planning on doing that? They're planning on taking HMTD and placing it at the base of the thing and blowing it up. Just these two individuals? Well, Brandon... Brandon's going to be a part of that as well?

30:17Speaker 7:Yeah, and I remember.

30:17Speaker 5:Did they expect you to be a part of that?

30:19Speaker 4:Yeah, they did.

30:19Speaker 5:I wasn't going to be a part of that, though. Even with your current fate, they still expect you to go along with it? Yeah. They were just, I guess. I mean, I know for a fact that they wanted me to. I'm just saying, I guess, because they were idiotic to think that I went to go do that with them. And I remember with the nuclear materials, he was planning on building mortar and firing it into a. There was a nuclear plant off the coast of Florida, and it's off the coast of Miami, and it's used to power that entire city in Fort Lauderdale and that kind of thing. And they were planning on firing that mortar with nuclear materials in it at that plant into the cooling things that are in the water. If that would have happened, that would have caused a massive, massive reactor failure, which would have led to the entirety of the water around there becoming irradiated. Think about a BP oil spill, except it wipes out parts of the entire eastern seaboard. What was their purpose for doing that? Because they wanted to go forthright. They're delusional.

31:14Speaker 9:Okay.

31:17Speaker 4:Some might see that as a pretty unbelievable claim, but after the murder investigation, Brandon would be implicated in that exact plot. The problem with that plan is that Brandon didn't have nuclear material that would be considered dangerous.

31:31Speaker 7:There was some nuclear material found. Yes. Okay, what's the deal with that?

31:38Speaker 5:I've been collecting... You can collect that on... You can go on eBay and buy it.

31:41Speaker 3:Oh, I know, but what. Okay.

31:49Speaker 7:Where'd you get it?

31:50Speaker 5:eBay.

31:50Speaker 7:Okay, eBay.

31:51Speaker 5:Years ago when I was like 10th grade. And how much do you have? Less than $ 1, 500. Less than $ 1, 500.

31:58Speaker 3:It's not.

32:01Speaker 5:Illegal. Oh, no, no, no. We just need to ask what's going on. Oh, of course.

32:06Speaker 7:Look, you had two guys just got murdered in your apartment and we found all this other stuff in there. So that's why we're asking. We want to get your side of the story as to what happened.

32:15Speaker 9:So.

32:17Speaker 5:I'm not accusing you of anything.

32:19Speaker 7:We just want to find out what's going on in that house. Okay. So on the thorium, and so some guy was saying it was coming from the Bahamas.

32:32Speaker 5:Is that where it came from? You just bought it off eBay here.

32:35Speaker 1:In the U.S.

32:37Speaker 5:I had bought it in the Bahamas off of eBay. Yes, technically thorium is radioactive.

32:43Speaker 7:But the radiation level is so low it's not considered harmful unless you eat it or inhale it in dust form.

33:08Speaker 4:If you include it with explosives, it will not create an effective dirty bomb. The explosion will further dilute the radiation level to make it virtually harmless. That said, bombing that facility would still be catastrophic. Devin used the interrogation to gradually become a hero who had taken out some hardcore terrorists, but the evidence never entirely matched that. It was also notable that his original description of the murder didn't match that.

33:34Speaker 5:I remember, like, Jeremy, like, starts, like, Basically, like, saying, like, I don't know why you have this book of fairy tale, like, shit right there. And he's about to, like, throw it at me. And I remember I just go, oh, really? And I remember, and this was after I had read all these people plotting and stuff like that on that wire chat. So I just, I blast him once and he's shot in the chest.

33:56Speaker 7:He's down.

33:56Speaker 5:I double tapped to make sure that he's not in pain. Double tapped him where? Head. I think I shot him. Jeremy, okay. Jeremy. Andrew freaks out. He starts running for his handgun. I got him down right there. Which, where, in the bedroom? Yeah, same room. He was running for his handgun. Where's his handgun? His handgun was on the corner with right there, and I gunned him down. I got two headshots right there, and they were down. I remember, like, I looked at them, and I'm very angry, and I'm thinking, like, in my head, you know, first you fuckers, you know, you guys are plotting to kill people, and you have the audacity to insult me when you're plotting to kill pretty much everyone.

34:32Speaker 5:And you're standing there holding a rifle. My people, yeah, and I'm holding the rifle, and I see them dead.

34:50Speaker 4:Jeremy and Andrew were murdered because Devin snapped in anger. He had gotten worked up reading chats that he disagreed with online, and then Jeremy and Andrew were making fun of his religion. I don't believe that Devin ever truly embraced Islam, just like he never truly embraced neo-Nazism. Everything Devin had done up until that point in his life was to be edgy, to get a reaction out of people. He likely targeted the more progressive people around him and began ranting about extreme racist ideals to shock people and get attention. It makes perfect sense that, after becoming a part of a community of neo-Nazis, he did a 180 and converted to Islam, claiming he sympathized with Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

35:33Speaker 4:His motivation was to be oppositional and get a rise out of people. Devin had pent-up anger inside him that was never released properly, so he found outlets that would provide him with a target for his anger. On May 19, 2017, Jeremy Himmelman and Andrew Onischuk became those targets. Obviously, after finding elements of explosives in the condo, investigators interviewed Brandon. He explained away the material they found as being something he used to make rockets, but it was a hard explanation to follow. It's not a coincidence that he had supplies used in making bombs along with a framed picture of Timothy McVeigh and a copy of the Turner Diaries standing up proudly displayed. Those three elements do not go together in a way that's ever innocent. During his questioning, Brandon was extremely evasive about where he had met Devin, Jeremy, and Andrew or what their shared interests were.

36:28Speaker 6:Explain to me the living arrangements you've got going here. What's all four of you guys buddies or how did you guys meet?

36:36Speaker 5:I met Jeremy through a mutual friend, and then I met Andrew through Jeremy, Devin through another mutual, not mutual friend, through a friend. Who did you know first? Did you meet one particular guy? I met Devin first. You met Devin first? How did you guys meet? We used to talk online, and then we found out that we lived in the same area. We just hung out. Was that in the Bahamas? No, in Florida. Oh, okay. West Palm Beach. No, I live in Orlando. You used to live in Orlando?

37:09Speaker 5:When I was a young kid, but that's not what I meant. How long ago did you meet Devin? Three or four years ago. And that was in Orlando, though? That was originally online? Was it like a common interest site? What was the.

37:22Speaker 6:Just like talk about politics.

37:24Speaker 1:Okay.

37:25Speaker 5:And you think you're kind of politics? Okay. You guys share the same... Position on politics, is that what the common interest was? I guess. Some things, at least.

37:37Speaker 1:Okay.

37:38Speaker 6:And how did you guys come to meet, go meet or meet in person?

37:43Speaker 5:We've been, like, airsofting. We went outdoors activities. Oh, airsoft clubs and things like that? No, just, you know, airsoft. Yeah, I know airsoft.

37:54Speaker 6:But that means they're competitive or just kids going around?

37:57Speaker 5:No, it's still good fun.

38:00Speaker 6:All right, and then what about the other two?

38:05Speaker 5:Jeremy, I met through one of my friends who I broke up with in the Bahamas. That guy lives in Boston. He met Jeremy and he put me in contact with Jeremy because he thought we'd get along. Then I met Andrew through Jeremy.

38:26Speaker 4:The investigators came out and directly questioned the things that were displayed in the condo.

38:31Speaker 3:All the memorabilia that you have in your apartment, and I haven't seen it, but from what I understand is you've got a lot of swastika flags and stuff like that.

38:44Speaker 7:So you have a Timothy McVeigh poster and stuff like that. And so Devin had said that you admired that guy.

38:53Speaker 5:Can you explain about that a little bit?

38:56Speaker 8:Some people would look at it as a Tennessee terrorist.

39:07Speaker 7:Yeah, we're kind of concerned, Brandon, because we find this other stuff in your house, and we see posters like that, and all the memorabilia that we have, and we just kind of want you to explain as to what, I mean, what were you doing with that stuff?

39:23Speaker 5:Wait, what are you planning to do? I'm not planning to do anything. I just want to go back to school and get my business degree. hopefully, because I couldn't make the cut in nuclear physics. I wanted to become a sergeant eventually, not a military. Yeah, no, that's good.

39:42Speaker 7:Now, there was a device in a bag that was by the door, I think, that had a fuse coming out of it.

39:47Speaker 5:That was like a....

39:50Speaker 8:I haven't seen, uh, was that, given the blue Delta bag you dropped by the, by the front door?

39:56Speaker 5:Or maybe you keep it by the front door?

39:58Speaker 1:Yeah.

39:58Speaker 5:Yeah, what, what's inside that?

40:00Speaker 7:I don't know.

40:01Speaker 5:There was some, uh, forgive me, you know, you guys all had those cartridge casings, fire cartridge casings.

40:08Speaker 6:That were, right?

40:10Speaker 5:She's just running to them, they were empty cartridge casings, you know, that. Does that sound familiar? Might that be somebody else's? That's what I'm asking you. You just can't remember what you're using that for.

40:27Speaker 7:And what about the, now you said that you make it, that you had made an HMTD, but why, is that just for a hobby, or just you.

40:37Speaker 5:Were interested in making that? Yeah. What was the purpose for that? Why did you make that stuff? Booster rockets.

40:46Speaker 4:We started up with a rocket, one powerful one, It would eventually be revealed that Brandon Russell was involved in plans for domestic terrorism. Brandon tried to claim that he wasn't a neo-Nazi, he was a National Socialist, but they're the same thing. National Socialism was the core belief system of the Nazi Party, and neo-Nazis are groups that want to literally bring back the Nazis' core belief system. People use the title of National Socialist because they believe it sounds more innocent than neo-Nazi, but they're identical. Brandon wanted to carry out domestic terrorism in an attempt to take down the U.S. government and create a race war. After being questioned, he was released, but the FBI issued a warrant for his arrest for possession of the explosives, and when he was arrested, he was driving with another member of the Atomwaffen, and they had an AR-15, a hunting rifle, homemade body armor, and over a thousand rounds of ammunition in the car with them. Investigators learned that Brandon had picked up the member and acquired the weapons and ammunition within hours of being released, and they were driving far

41:59Speaker 4:from where they lived with no luggage. Authorities believed they were planning a mass shooting. Brandon pleaded guilty to possessing unregistered destructive devices and improperly storing explosives. While out on bond awaiting sentencing, it was discovered that he had sent bomb-making instructions to another member of Atomwaffen. His bond was rescinded and he was sentenced to five years in prison. Less than six months into his sentence, he managed to send a two-minute video to his followers thanking them for their loyalty and courage. He also said, quote, There is no room in this world for cowardly people. The sword has been drawn. There is no turning back. A quote from Adolf Hitler. Brandon was released on August 23, 2021, but he was not rehabilitated. He had met a woman named Sarah Glenn Daniel while in prison, and together they began plotting to bomb an electrical substation in Baltimore, Maryland.

42:57Speaker 4:When caught, Brandon was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a lifetime supervised release. In prison, he has organized a neo-Nazi newsletter and seems to be holding tight to his misguided beliefs. The ones that have seen him desire to hurt and kill innocent people in the name of an ideology that can only be supported if you have absolutely no intelligence. He deserves to never have freedom. He's a danger to the world, and it's important to note that there have been 10 murders around the world connected to members of the Atomwaffen Division, not including the murders Devin committed. Devin was initially found unfit to stand trial.

43:35Speaker 4:His behavior in court during hearings along with psychiatric evaluations convinced the judge that he needed mental health treatment. He spent a few years in a psychiatric facility, but after improvement he was found competent and a trial was set. He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and was sentenced to 45 years in prison plus 15 years of probation on May 8th, 2023. During his sentencing hearing, Devin made a statement apologizing for his actions and expressing his desire to spend his life working to educate young people about extremism and the signs of grooming from those groups.

44:11Speaker 4:Because of that, Andrew's sister gave a response.

44:15Speaker 9:And I also want you to know that because of all of this, I have also dedicated my life to anti-extremism. I have also dedicated my life to naming white supremacy, to naming lax gun laws.

44:29Speaker 5:Because again, this is a system issue.

44:32Speaker 9:And as long as the rhetoric is what it is in our world, this will continue to happen.

44:41Speaker 5:And that's the issue.

44:42Speaker 9:And so as much as you hold blame for your individual choices, there's a larger system.

44:48Speaker 5:At play here.

44:50Speaker 4:Devin wants people to believe that he's changed his ways and wants to be a productive member of society. He said in an interview a few years after his conviction that he had abandoned all extremist ideals and is doing everything he can to learn and become a less angry person. It's hard to say whether someone is truly remorseful of their actions or if they just want to look that way to lessen their punishment. He did assist with the Fed's investigation into Brandon and the Atomwaffen.

45:16Speaker 5:So you would need, in order to educate.

45:20Speaker 6:the uh anyone else that would be further investigating this group you think having your your computer uh an fbi agent as you requested sit down and go over this stuff you think then you would open some eyes you think.

45:37Speaker 5:Yeah i definitely do i think that it would uh it would open some eyes to a much bigger thing than what happened today um and i think that that could definitely like uh you know, basically save a lot of lives overall. I think that that could save... Without necessarily, uh, murdering two individuals. I mean, there's ways to do it without using violence.

45:56Speaker 7:Yeah.

45:57Speaker 5:I think that that, uh, I think there's ways of doing things out of violence for everything, but I mean, overall, like, uh, when it comes to, um, these sorts of people, if you could arrest them, you know, ideally that would be better. Would you refer to today as maybe a necessary evil? Yeah.

46:14Speaker 4:It's hard to believe that someone like Devin, someone so easily influenced into extreme beliefs, can be a member of society without being a danger to others. What would it take for him to snap and kill someone again? Because in all reality, Jeremy and Andrew were not a direct threat to him or anyone else at the time of their deaths. Did they have some questionable ideas? Of course. Were they being bullies to Devin? It sounds like it. But those things don't justify Devin gunning them down in their own home while they were unarmed, not threatening his life.

46:47Speaker 4:Could Devin have changed? It's possible, but we saw him do a lot of justifying his behavior during his interrogation, so he could just as easily be justifying his behavior to himself, convincing himself that he's a different person, but once out of prison, that newfound freedom could likely beckon him right back to extremism. To be fair, this story has people acting out of violence for two opposing ideals, neo-Nazism and Islam, but they aren't at the center of this story. Extremism is. Believing in something is one thing, but when you become an extremist about it, believing others should die based on your beliefs, you become a human unworthy of participating in society no matter what those beliefs are.

47:30Speaker 4:Devin and Brandon both took their beliefs and decided others should die for them. Brandon wasn't successful on his own, but it still makes them both monsters. Thanks for listening to This is Monsters. New episodes are uploaded twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. There are occasional bonus episodes covering unsolved cases in criminal history. If you have a suggestion for a case you think I should cover, leave it in the comments. You can also follow the channel on Instagram at thisis underscore monsters and purchase merch at thisismonsters.com.

48:04Speaker 4:Thanks so much and be safe.