FBI arrests Santa Ana man accused of sending threatening messages to Parkland shooting victims

SANTA ANA — A Santa Ana man is facing charges of using Instagram to send threatening messages to victims of the Parkland, Fla., mass shooting that killed 17 people last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Brandon Fleury was arrested Friday by the FBI and made an appearance in court in Santa Ana when he was granted bail. He is due in court again in Miami on Monday, said Laura Eimiller of the FBI.

Fleury is accused of cyberstalking and threats in interstate communications, according to the FBI affidavit in the case.

The alleged threatening social media posts were made between Dec. 22 and Jan. 11, according to the FBI. The messages tagged Instagram accounts used by “relatives and friends of students who were killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018,” according to the affidavit.

“One post threatened to kidnap the message recipients, while others sought to harass the recipients by repeatedly taunting the relatives and friends of the MSD victims, cheering the deaths of their loved ones and, among other things, asking them to cry,” the affidavit alleges.

Fleury is accused of using a handful of Instagram accounts using a computer in his home, where he lives with his father and brother, according to the FBI.

FBI agents executed a search warrant at Fleury’s residence on Jan. 16.

“Fleury made spontaneous statements to the effect that the agents were there because of ‘some stupid s..t’ he had done on the internet,” the affidavit said.

Law enforcement identified Fleury as the person who allegedly made the online threats based on those statements and statements he made after he had been read his Miranda rights.

Fleury told FBI agents that he was using the social media site to “troll” the victims “and gain popularity,” the affidavit alleges.

He “admitted to targeting family members who were `activists’ who had a large social media presence,” according to the FBI.

The alleged victims complained to sheriff’s deputies in Broward County, Fla.,  “on or about Dec. 22,” according to the FBI.

Fleury said he used various profiles with variations on the name of Nikolas Cruz, the alleged Parkland mass killer, the FBI alleged.

Fleury allegedly told agents that he was fascinated with Cruz and other mass shooters as well as serial killers such as Ted Bundy.

“Fleury did not show remorse for posting the comments but explained he would not follow through on the threats he communicated,” the FBI alleged. “He claimed that his messages were not threats, but were `more like taunts,’ ” according to the FBI.

Fleury allegedly posted messages such as, “I killed your loved ones hahaha,” the FBI reported.

When asked by law enforcement whether he could see his comments as threats, court records state that Fleury said “I guess so.”

Fleury was officially charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to kidnap a person.

He was also charged with using an interactive computer service with intent to harass and intimidate another person.

If convicted, each charge carries a fine or a maximum jail sentence of five years.

The Register’s Robert Gundran contributed to this story.