Minnesota trans killer of Catholic schoolchildren inspired by ‘secret Satanic network’: report

Some of the groups are called 764, COM, No Lives Matter, the Order of Nine Angels, and others, and operate in secret on the web where kids can access them and parents are primarily unaware. They are often called the "764 network," reports The Daily Mail, and comprise satanic, accelerationist, Nazi, nihilistic people, including those obsessed with mass shooters.

Many school and mass shooters have referenced other shooters. Madison, Wisconsin school shooter Natalie Rupnow was found to be linked to a California man who allegedly also planned a mass shooting in a government building. Rupnow may also have been connected by social media to Nashville, Antioch High School shooter Solomon Henderson.

Henderson had a 288 page diary detailing his intentions. Westman referenced Nashville Covenant School shooter Aubrey Hale, who in turn referenced the Columbine killers.

Those who are part of these networks target young teens, trans people, and those who already feel victimized by society. Those who join those dark online communities are encouraged, per the Mail, to "self-harm on camera, abuse animals and even kill themselves while live-streaming."

In a video Westman uploaded to YouTube that was accessed prior to the streaming platform taking it down, he said "I wanna kill myself," and "I am feeling good about the anticipation." He also blamed his mother, who he said had told him he would regret transitioning, for his interest in staging a massacre.

Westman's writings in his manifesto and notebooks indicate that he could have been part of groups such as these. Expert and Idaho State professor David Riedman of the K-12 School Shooting Database said that Westman's coded symbols—he wrote in Cyrillic letters—indicate allegiance to these groups.

"The groups cultivate members on private encrypted, invite-only messaging apps like Discord, Telegram or Terrorgram, that are stored in servers all over the world and are difficult for law enforcement to monitor," the Mail said.

"Most people don't know that there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of very obscure Telegram channels where very disturbed people congregate," said News Junkie podcast host Shawn Wasson.

"It never fails that these shooters come from these places. These deranged people hatch in these shadow communities and unleash their nihilistic worldview on convenient victims," he said.

"There are very clear references in the photos and videos from the shooting,' said Riedman, a long-time authority on school shooters," he said, "It's almost like this is the postmodern representation of a template of violence – if you're going to commit mass violence, you need to draw on all of these other pieces that exist in the lore around it."

Terrorgram operates on Telegram and contains "violent extremist propaganda channels," while 764 is linked to the Order of Nine Angels network, which is an older group, but was formed in 2021 by a 15-year-old in Texas.

764 founder Bradley Cadenhead pleaded guilty to possession of child porn in 2023 and is serving 80 years in prison. This week, a man in California was arrested for child pornography and is believed to be part of the 764 group.

"According to the complaint, several minor females reported that Kim enticed them and other minor females to produce and send him pictures and videos of themselves engaging in sexual acts between 2022 and the present. The minor females stated that Kim would then extort his victims by posting or threatening to post pictures and videos to their family members and others if they did not comply with his demands to send him more pictures and videos," said the FBI.

"The complaint," per the FBI report, "alleges that Kim engaged in this conduct as part of his participation in an online network known as '764,' a network of nihilistic violent extremists who engage in criminal conduct, including the targeting children for sexual exploitation online, to further the network’s goals of accelerating social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States Government."

The Order of Nine Angels was founded in the UK in the 1970s and was referenced in UK terrorism prosecutions, noted the BBC in 2020. "Its short-term goal is to undermine what it caricatures as a decadent Judeo-Christian society, with an emphasis placed on real-world acts, the aim being a new imperial civilization based a cruel mixture of Social Darwinism, Satanism, and Fascism," the outlet reported.