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FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS FEBRUARY 25, 2015 | 9
Kalispell Man Posed a ‘Very Real Threat’
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David Joseph Lenio has been charged with intimidation and criminal defamation for threatening school children and religious leaders on Twitter
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
From Feb. 12 to 15, David Joseph Lenio went on a tirade on Twitter. In a breathless stream of tweets, the 28-year-old Kalispell man ranted about Judaism, white supremacy and his desire to “shoot up a school.”
Twenty-four hours after he sent his last tweet, Lenio was led away in handcuffs at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Lenio has been charged with felony intimidation and criminal defa- mation after what Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset charac- terized as “a very real threat.”
“I did not want children’s blood on my hands because I didn’t do everything I could,” Nasset said.
In the midst of Lenio’s bizarre rantings, he moved two rifles and a supply of ammunition from a storage unit to his Kalispell apartment. Nasset said that move took the threat to another level and led to Lenio’s arrest. The arrest was made in coordination with the FBI, Kalispell Police Department, Whitefish Police Department and the Flathead County Sher- iff’s Office.
Prior to moving to Kalispell in 2014, Lenio lived in Michi- gan. He was an ardent user of social media, including Twitter and YouTube. Videos he posted between 2011 and 2013 de- pict Lenio as a man worried about losing his guns to the fed- eral government. In multiple videos he calls the 2011 shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the Boston Marathon bombing “false flag” events orchestrated by the government to increase its power and take people’s guns. He also expresses frustration for capitalism and poverty.
However, it appears Lenio’s online musings took a more violent tone earlier this month when he went on a long Twitter rant threatening to open fire inside a local school and assassi- nate Jewish religious leaders. Some of the tweets included:
Feb. 12: Even animals without money get land to live on, hunt & forage; but Americans without dollars must be home- less? I want to shoot up a school.
Feb. 12: I bet I could get at least 12 unarmed sitting ducks if I decide to go on a killing spree in a #school. Sounds better than being a wage slave.
Feb. 14: Now that the holocaust has been proven to be a lie beyond a reasonable doubt, it is now time to hunt the Nazi hunters.
Feb. 15: If my tax dollars can go to blowing up Palestine #school kids then surely I can tweet about how cool killing school kids is.
On Feb. 14, Jonathan Hutson, a spokesperson for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C., tweeted a link to a story about a shooting at a synagogue in Copenhagen. Lenio responded and began flooding Hutson’s Twitter feed with anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Hutson initially ignored the tweets, but Lenio continued to harass him, even asking the man where his children went to school. Hutson, who previously worked as an investigative journalist, began to research Lenio and found his YouTube page. Because Lenio listed his location as “Cascadia,” Hutson believed he lived in Oregon and called the FBI office in Port- land.
Oregon authorities discovered Lenio was living in Ka- lispell, and on Feb. 15 at 11 p.m., the Kalispell Police Depart- ment was informed of Lenio’s activity. Nasset organized a team to investigate the threat in coordination with the FBI.
Nasset said police reached out to Lenio’s father in Michi- gan who told officers that we was worried about his son’s men- tal state.
On Feb. 16, an officer with the Kalispell Police Department contacted Lenio to talk to him about his tweets. Lenio admit-
David Joseph Lenio makes his initial appearance at Flathead County Justice Court on Feb. 19. Lenio, 28, has been charged with felony malicious intimidation. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
ted that he had sent the messages and that he was “trying to bring attention to certain social issues.” He then told the of- ficer that he was glad his tweets were gaining the attention of law enforcement and school officials.
Later that same day, an officer talked to Lenio’s roommate, who said that Lenio had brought rifles and ammunition to their home the night before. Police obtained a search warrant of Lenio’s apartment and found a 9mm semi-automatic rifle and a Russian-made bolt-action rifle in his bedroom. They also found numerous rounds of ammunition in Lenio’s bedroom and base- ment. Later they conducted a search of Lenio’s vehicle and found a .32 caliber semi-automatic pistol and more ammuni- tion. They also discovered marijuana, a pipe and jugs of urine.
Lenio was arrested on Feb. 16 at 4:45 p.m. as he was coming back from snowboarding at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
“(Moving the guns) gave him the opportunity and the means to carry out what he had been saying,” Nasset said.
Nasset said that some area schools that were open on Feb. 16 were put on a soft lockdown and extra officers were sta- tioned nearby.
Most valley schools were not in session because of Presi- dents’ Day, including all of Kalispell’s public schools. Law en- forcement notified school administrators Monday morning that a general threat against schools had been made, according to Kalispell School District Superintendent Mark Flatau.
“At that point, the threat was certainly concerning but it was nebulous and general and incoherent. Police told us there should be more information as the day rolls along,” Flatau said.
Later that afternoon, more than 30 school administrators from around the valley met at the Kalispell School District Of- fice and received a briefing from police, who informed them that Lenio was located at the ski resort and was being moni- tored.
That evening Flatau sent out a recorded message to over 5,800 families in the Kalispell school district informing them of the situation.
“I wanted to get the information out, even though it may be concerning,” he said.
“We know we can never make an assumption that it’s not a viable threat and we have to act. We have to act appropriately. The most important thing we do besides educating students is providing a safe, supportive environment.”
Hutson, the man who first reported the online statements, said he was glad he took the time to report Lenio’s online ac- tivity.
“I’m relieved that America isn’t reading about a mass shooting in Kalispell today,” Hutson said. “Law enforcement did a stellar job responding to a tip from a concerned dad.”
Lenio is currently in the Flathead County Detention Cen- ter with a bail of $500,000. His arraignment has been set for March 19 at 1:30 p.m.
If convicted, Lenio could face up to 20 years in prison and
fines up to $50,000.
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