Court docs: Man arrested in Knox County by Cincinnati FBI agents in 'planned attacks' of White House UFC show

DANVILLE, Ohio — A man was arrested in Knox County by Cincinnati FBI agents is one of five total arrests in connection with a plot targeting the UFC 250 fight at the White House, federal court documents say. Law enforcement officials disrupted “planned attacks” meant to target the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend for President Donald Trump's birthday, and multiple people were in custody, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Tuesday. Court documents say 19-year-old Tycen Proper was arrested on June 11 after his family members contacted the Knox County Sheriff's Office and Danville Police Department out of concern for "his recent conduct, including firearms purchases and communicating with certain individuals online." According to court documents, Proper was living at home with his parents, who told law enforcement that Proper had recently met random people online and began exhibiting concerning behavior. Proper's parents told law enforcement Proper had been planning to leave the weekend of June 13 to meet up with the people he met online; Proper had also recently been acquiring around $3,000 worth of camping gear, food, ballistic plates, a new shotgun, a rifle, "lots" of ammunition, extra magazines and plate carriers, court documents say. Proper's mother told police on June 11 that her son "had recently begun interacting with a group online that was comprised of individuals who claimed to be ex-military and Christian-based," court documents say. She also told law enforcement the group, which she didn't know the name of, expressed "ultra-religious and anti-government sentiments, specifically citing grievances about government corruption, the handling of the Epstein files, data centers taking up all the water in communities and other government actions." The court documents go on to say that a search warrant of Proper's phone revealed group chats on the messaging app Signal that laid out detailed plans to conduct an attack on Washington D.C., including detailed imagery of the National Capitol Region and maps of the area. In the chats, members highlighted "sniper locations, potential drone launch locations and other detailed tactical planning." When FBI Cincinnati agents spoke with Proper, he admitted to planning a coordinated attack against the government during the UFC event scheduled to take place on the White House lawn on June 14, court documents say. Proper told FBI agents members of the group involved in planning the attack began speaking to one another in March through a TikTok group called "Vanguard of the Old," court documents say. The group believed "that the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt," and some in the group "expressed a desire that people who were involved with Jeffrey Epstein should not govern the country," according to the documents. More serious members of the group, including Proper, then moved over to encrypted communications on Signal, where they allegedly planned the attack, according to the court documents. Proper told FBI agents the plan was for the group to meet up in Fredericksburg, Virginia; Proper said he was not planning to attend in order to shoot people, but that several others in the group were "intent on violence," the federal documents say. According to Proper, the plan was to stage a demonstration on the north side of the White House; while that was happening, the group would fly drones "laden with unspecified explosive devices" they intended to detonate over the north side of the UFC arena on the White House lawn, court documents claim. From there, the group planned to force the groud and "high value targets" to evacuate to the south, where members would be positioned to act as snipers and additional shooters as the crowd fled, according to the court document. "According to Proper, this attack was designed to 'jumpstart' a revolution in the United States," the documents say. Proper's cell phone search showed he'd communicated in a primary, large Signal chat with around 19 individuals; smaller chat groups consisting of around four to five people were also present, the court documents say. Mentioned as specific targets in the chats were U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Senator Jim Justice, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, U.S. Representative Carol Miller and U.S. Representative Riley Moore. Others arrested in connection with the alleged plot were from Missouri and California, said a law enforcement official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public. The FBI learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza on the White House's South Lawn, “and thanks to the rapid action of the 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 said in a post on X on Tuesday morning. The Secret Service "worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable,” Director Sean Curran said in a separate statement. Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, sought to tie the fights to larger celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Évian-les-Bains, France, where he was attending the Group of Seven summit, Trump said he had not been briefed on the thwarted plot. Proper is being charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, attempted murder of any officer or employee of the United States, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and receipt or transfer of a firearm used to commit a felony.