Maryland transgender teen, 18, is arrested for planning school shooting because he ‘wants to be famous’ as cops find lengthy 130-page murder manifesto

• Andrea Ye, 18, has been charged with making threats of mass violence
• Cops found a ‘manifesto’ written which ‘strategized how to carry out the act’

A transgender 18-year-old planned a school shooting because he ‘wanted to be famous’, according to cops who arrested him after finding his 129-page ‘manifesto’. 

Andrea Ye, whose preferred name is Alex, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with making threats of mass violence after allegedly planning to shoot up Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland. 

Police swooped on Ye after finding a ‘manifesto’ written by the teen which they said ‘writes about committing a school shooting, and strategizes how to carry out the act’.

In the pages, Ye allegedly wrote that he ‘wants to be famous’ and contemplated targeting an elementary school as ‘little kids make easier targets’. 

According to court documents seen by ABC, Ye first described the manifesto as ‘fiction’ but then later described it as ‘his memoir’. 

Montgomery County Public Schools told Fox that Ye is an active student at Wootton High School in Rockville but has been attending through a virtual program and hadn’t been on campus physically since 2022. 

Police reportedly said in court records that Ye’s sex is female but he uses male pronouns.

After the FBI alerted Montgomery County Police to the manifesto, they obtained a search warrant and found internet searches, drawings and documents related to threats of mass violence. 

Ye reportedly put a disclaimer in the book saying it doesn’t ‘represent the author’s beliefs’ but a witness – who first contacted authorities in early March – raised concerns that the manifesto bore ‘striking similarities’ to Ye. 

The witness believed the writings indicated Ye was prepared to carry out a mass shooting imminently, according to court documents seen by ABC.

Authorities said they had determined that the manifesto appears to have ‘portions of fictional and non-fictional qualities’. 

Court documents state that the witness told police that Ye’s ‘memoir’ was about ‘a transgender main character’ named ‘James Wang’. 

They said that ‘Wang’ was ‘being bullied in school and other issues that [the witness] believed were directly from Ye’s life and not indicative of fiction.’

According to ABC, the manifesto described how the character would ‘cherry pick the classrooms that are the easiest targets’ and said: ‘I have also considered shooting up my former elementary school because little kids make easier targets.’

Authorities said they found social media posts and searches by Ye allegedly looking up ‘gun range near me,’ and the phrase ‘But, I do recognize that my plan is fully unethical. It’s selfish and evil’, according to court documents seen by ABC. 

The documents reportedly show Ye telling an online user: ‘My homicidal ideation has been getting worse lately to the point I might act on it eventually,’ and then later adding: ‘I’d want to kill a lot of people or it wouldn’t be worth it.’

Ye was taken into custody on Wednesday and is being held in the Montgomery County Jail while he awaits a bond hearing – he has not yet entered a plea.

Ye has a long history of inpatient care for mental health issues, according to the court documents seen by ABC, and had openly expressed thoughts of homicidal and suicidal ideation.

According to the court documents, Ye was previously hospitalized ‘for threatening to ‘shoot up a school’.

He was evaluated at his home and then hospitalized again in March, the hospital then raised an alarm with school and law enforcement officials because of ‘the threat posed by Ye.’

A counselor who had worked with Ye told authorities that he ‘would express violent thoughts such as shooting up the school’ and ‘would smile while saying it,’ according to the documents seen by ABC.