A 27-year-old man arrested Tuesday for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at the University of Arizona was an “incel” and fan of infamous misogynist Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in 2014.
That’s according to a federal complaint reviewed by The Daily Beast, which fills in some of the blanks left by UofA police, who announced Michael Pengchung Lee’s arrest on Tuesday night. Lee made the threat on Oct. 22 in a Snapchat group chat, under the screenname “asianluluu,” the complaint states.
“The day of Retribution is upon us, I shall get revenge on all the chads and stacies!!” Lee allegedly wrote in a group chat last Sunday.
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He had warned people on Snapchat that there would soon be “a mass tragedy and atrocity at the UofA,” specifying “a mass shooting” when the others asked what he meant, the complaint states.
Lee, who is reportedly not affiliated in any way with UofA, said he was planning on pulling off the murders with an AR-15 assault-style rifle, insisting, “It’s Arizona you can just buy one,” according to the complaint. (Arizona is a so-called permitless-carry state.)
He noted that he’d get the gun “probably right before” the planned shooting, “so my mom doesn’t find it,” the complaint goes on. Lee hadn’t chosen a date yet for the assault, but knew he wanted to go after “Chads” and “Stacies,” incel-speak for attractive, popular young men and women. In this case, the feds believe Lee was after UofA students in fraternities and sororities, the complaint says.
“When he saw the females in the group chat screenshotting his posts he stated ‘fuck you stacies I was gonna give u a warning but now im not,’” the complaint continues. “It’s a solo mission, I’m not normal, I never have been, I’m severely autistic and mentally ill and was never accepted by society, I have no place in the world.”
“Youll hear about it on the news,” he promised.
Chillingly, Lee allegedly wrote, “also the 10th anniversary of the day of retribution is may 23,2024 btw, but isn't the UofA gonna be out of session by then?”
May 23, 2014, was the date of Elliot Rodger’s killing spree, during which he murdered six fraternity and sorority members near the UC-Santa Barbara campus
and injured 14, leaving behind a manifesto that outlined his rage and hatred for women. Rodger, a 22-year-old virgin, was subsequently made a martyr by other “involuntary celibates,” such as Lee, who the complaint says identifies as a “former incel” in his Instagram page.
“Lee finished his conversation on Snapchat by saying: ‘im gonna do it guys, my mind is made up and there's nothing u can do or say to stop me,’” according to the complaint.
Although the complaint does not spell out the exact chain of events that occurred next, it appears that someone in the Snapchat group took their concerns to campus police, who contacted the FBI. Agents reviewed data from the U of A PD’s automated license plate reader systems and discovered Lee’s vehicle had been in the vicinity of the school’s Greek Row on nine separate days in October, the complaint states.
On Monday, campus police pulled Lee over for speeding, and questioned him about the Snapchat threats. He admitted to everything, telling cops that he was “frustrated with his homelife” and decided to “vent” about it in the group chat, according to the complaint.
“He stated he was a former member of the incel community but was no longer,” it says. “He attempted to purchase a firearm two months ago but decided against it. LEE admitted he was aware the threats to commit a mass shooting were wrong and concerning.”
Lee was booked into the Pima County Jail on a state charge of making a terroristic threat. He is being held on $7,500 bond. The federal charge filed against him, interstate communications containing threats to injure another, carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Lee, whose name was spelled “Pengchong” in a UofA alert sent out Tuesday night, was arrested last month on drug and weapons possession charges after cops found controlled substances and a firearm in a storage facility he rented, according to the complaint.
According to the UofA alert, there is no current or pending threat to students of faculty and no other suspects are being sought. Lee does not have a lawyer listed in federal court records, and was unable to be reached for comment on Wednesday.
