Maryland, My Maryland

Andrea "Alex" Ye

 Hat Hair's Jazz Shaw, Aspiring Maryland Trans Shooter Thwarted

It's not that often that we have the chance to report on some legitimately good news these days, but since the opportunity presented itself this week we might as well take advantage of it. This is the story of yet another mass school shooting, but it's one that didn't wind up happening. The plot was unfolding in Montgomery County, Maryland, and in what seems to be part of a disturbing trend, the aspiring shooter is transgender. An 18-year-old high school girl named Andrea Ye went by the name of "Alex" and described herself as a male. Like others before her, she had written a massive manifesto detailing her dreams of "setting a record" for the most kills, preferably in an elementary school. The parallels to the Covenant School attack in Tennessee are too obvious to ignore, but she was detected and taken into custody before the plan could be put into effect. (National Review)

The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) arrested an 18-year-old transgender high-school student on Wednesday in connection with a plan to commit a school shooting.

Andrea Ye of Rockville, Maryland — who goes by the name “Alex” — authored a 129-page manifesto detailing her desire to attack an elementary school, writing that she wants to be famous and describing her strategy for carrying out the shooting, Montgomery County police announced in a Thursday press release. The statement of charges against Ye, which National Review obtained from the office of the Montgomery County state’s attorney, includes excerpts from her manifesto and glimpses into her internet history.

Several of Ye’s Google searches, in addition to instructions for making bombs and details about other school shootings, had to do with the March 2023 attack on the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, in which Audrey Hale — a biological woman identifying as a transgender man named “Aiden” — killed three nine-year-old children and three adults before being shot and killed by police.

Andrea Ye was clearly a fan of Audrey Hale and referenced her in her writings. She had been researching instructions for bombmaking and fantasized about murdering elementary school students because she "might get tackled" if she shot up a high school. This sounds like a textbook definition of a monster if I've ever heard one.

Plenty of outlets picked up the news of the arrest, but there was one curious commonality among many of them. The majority of headlines I came across completely failed to mention the fact that she was trans. The BBC only described the aspiring shooter as a "teen." The Independent similarly went with "teenager." WTOP News in Washington described Ye as a "Montgomery County Student." WHIO News in Ohio went with "Maryland Teen."

Put her in the men's prison.