COLUMBIA STATION, OH — Federal prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that “only timely intervention by law enforcement” kept a Valley City man from finalizing and carrying out his plans to commit a mass shooting at a Columbia Station mosque "because he hates Muslims.”
The memorandum in support of pretrial detention filed by the government is the first time federal prosecutors have indicated how big of a threat they considered Wyatt Brzoska.
Prosecutors urged a judge to keep the 20-year-old in jail, warning, “Had he not been arrested, he could have committed an unspeakable atrocity.”
RELATED: Medina County man jailed, facing federal charges connected to threatening mosque
Investigators said they first learned of the plans in November after the FBI received a tip about social media posts possibly threatening a mass shooting at a mosque.
Federal investigators wrote in court documents that Brzoska was questioned by the Medina County Sheriff’s Office, but claimed the posts were a joke.
Later that month, FBI agents said they interviewed Brzoska after he made more social media posts.
Again, agents said Brzoska said the posts were a joke.
Then, earlier this month, the FBI said it received another tip that revealed Brzoska was planning to attack a mosque.
“He selected a target, conducted reconnaissance, assembled an arsenal of firearms,” wrote prosecutors. “He expected to die in the attack.”
During a search of Brzoska’s bedroom inside his family’s Valley City home last weekend, investigators said they found 10 guns, approximately 700 rounds of ammunition as well as knives, tactical vests, gloves and a mask.
Pictures included in the court filing showed one of the rifles had Nazi symbols written on it.
FBI agents said Brzoska also admitted he wanted to kill more than the 51 people killed by a gunman during a 2019 attack on mosques in New Zealand.
Faten Odeh, Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she believes a legitimate mass attack on a mosque was thwarted.
“The individual had the tools, the individual had a detailed plan and seemed very passionate and self-righteous about what he was planning to do,” said Odeh.
In their memorandum, federal prosecutors wrote that Brzoska scouted the mosque and posted a picture of it on social media with the text, “You will feel it.”
They said Brzoska also shared his plans with a 15-year-old Utah girl through social media.
According to the filing, the FBI obtained a transcript of communications between the pair from this month in which they said Brzoska planned to use his car to block the mosque’s rear exit, and said, “I’m gonna kill so many f****** people, and make them all suffer…And I’m gonna (sic) laugh, laugh as there (sic) dying.”
Investigators said Brzoska also took screenshots of the Google Maps page for the mosque and wrote to the girl, “I’m about to get some propane tanks here soon and more ammo.”
Agents arrested him two days later at the farm supply store in Medina, where he worked after agents said they watched him help customers fill propane tanks.
According to the filing with the court, Brzoska denied planning to attack the mosque and called the posts a joke, saying “he just wanted to get back at the people who made videos targeting him as a Christian.”
FBI agents told prosecutors that during an interview, the Utah girl said Brzoska messaged her last Friday and said he might have to “do it” soon and that "he didn’t want to leave her, but he might not be able to control himself.”
Agents said the girl told them “Brzoska had talked about attacking a mosque ‘a lot’ as well as shooting his neighbors, shooting up a school or a church.”
“The risk of catastrophe is enormous here,” wrote prosecutors. “He has a target, he has shown he can obtain the means, he has the motive and he is willing to die to accomplish it.”
Brzoska is charged with making an interstate threatening communication and faces a federal firearms charge.
He remains jailed.
Brzoska’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but previously said he wanted more information before commenting on the case.
Both the US Attorney's Office and the Cleveland Office of the FBI declined to comment on the case, citing ongoing investigations.
