A federal grand jury indicted eight men suspected of plotting a deadly attack against government officials and others at the White House’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Freedom 250 event on June 14.
The indictment, returned to Columbus on July 9, charged all eight men with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.
The names of the suspects are Abraham H. Alvarez, Daniel K. Eskridge, William L. S. Falkner, Tycen J. Proper, Jordan W. Rincker, Bryan O. Roa, Chandler D. Scaggs, and Michael A. Thomas.
The suspects resided across multiple states, such as Nebraska, Missouri, Washington, Ohio, California, and West Virginia.
The latest defendant, Chandler D. Scaggs, was taken into custody in West Virginia this week.
According to an affidavit, Scaggs was one of the alleged snipers in the plot.
Scaggs allegedly was going to be picked up from the airport by Proper, but the two men lost contact after Proper was arrested.
“Scaggs allegedly indicated to the group that he was still willing to participate in the attack and made new plans for another coconspirator to pick him up to travel to the UFC Freedom 250 event,” a press release by the Department of Justice stated on Thursday.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in the case, Proper’s mother was the first to notify police about her son’s suspicious activities after she noticed he was purchasing firearms and had increased his online communications.
Preparations for the thwarted attack were made using a series of chat groups on apps such as Signal, SimpleX, Discord, TikTok, and Instagram.
The defendants allegedly wanted to kill “high value targets” such as President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who did not attend the event.
The suspects allegedly started to make efforts to provide material support and resources to terrorists in May 2026.
They also allegedly “engaged in marksmanship and combat training” ahead of the event as they prepared to assist with money, firearms, personnel, and other services to carry out the attack.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the planned attacks were “stopped cold” after his agency and law enforcement partners discovered the threat.
“On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region—and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Patel wrote in an X post on June 16.
