An emboldened White Supremacist in today’s day and age has apparently been thwarted in his attempt to attack a Jewish community center in Ohio.
According to reports, James Reardon Jr., 20, was arrested by New Middletown Police on Saturday after threats he made online surfaced. New Middletown police chief Vincent D’Egidio told CBS affiliate WKBN-TV that his department got a tip on Friday of a video posted on Instagram which appears to show Reardon firing a semiautomatic rifle accompanied by sirens and screams. Along with the video was the caption “Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon.” The Jewish Family Community Center was tagged as the location.
The Instagram account that was connected to Reardon was eventually taken down but did provide more evidence of the 20-year-old’s racist ideology including posts filled with anti-Semitic slurs, derogatory comments against minorities, and guns.
Friday, the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force raided Reardon’s house recovering several semi-automatic weapons, dozens of rounds of ammunition, a gas mask, and bulletproof armor. Also seized was anti-Semitic and white nationalist propaganda.
Additionally, Reardon was an attendee of the Charlottesville rally in 2017 where he appeared in a documentary where he explained his white nationalist views. He further stated that he wanted to see a homeland established only for whites, according to D’Egidio.
Currently Reardon is being held on $250,000 bond and is set to appear in court on Monday.