Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested on Monday and charged with aiding in commission of terrorism after she allegedly provided ammunition and tactical gear to her son, whose behavior demonstrated plans for a “mass targeted violence” aimed at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.
Back in January, Pardo’s son was first contacted in reference to “drawings of the local school he currently attended,” the affidavit said. These drawings included a map of the school – labeled “suicide route” – and the name of the school written beside a rifle, the affidavit said.
In April, the son was found researching the 2019 Christchuch mosque shooting in New Zealand – a tragedy that killed 51 people – on a school-issued computer, the affidavit said.
The grandmother told officials Pardo had been taking the boy to a local surplus store and bought him magazines, a tactical black vest “capable of concealing ballistic plates,” a tactical black helmet and various army clothing, the affidavit said.
On Monday, the boy told his grandmother he was “going to be famous” before being picked up by his mom and taken to school, according to officials.
The grandmother then looked through the boy’s bedroom, where she found magazines loaded with live rifle ammunition and pistol magazines loaded with live ammunition, the affidavit said.
She also found an “improvised explosive device” – a mortar-style firework wrapped in duct tape – among the boy’s belongings, the affidavit noted. The explosive device had the words “For Brenton Tarrant,” referencing the shooter in the 2019 mosque attack, along with multiple “SS” symbols and “14 words” – referencing white supremacy – written on it, according to the affidavit.
Non-white nazis are always the most baffling to me. I’ve met a few who aren’t from the west, and while still disgusting, the pathways to the ideology are much clearer, especially being aware of their global efforts (looking at you, India). But when they’re in the US and we’ve had our own history with racism and support of fascism from the beginning, I have to ask, are you hoping to be kept on a leash in the backyard? Perhaps with a little picket house to cower in when the weather flares up?