Man suspected of beheading his father bought a gun the day before fatally shooting him and abusing his corpse, DA says
Editor’s note: This story includes graphic descriptions some readers may find disturbing.
The man accused of showing his father’s severed head during a politically charged online rant this week first shot the federal worker to death using a handgun he’d bought only a day earlier, the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, district attorney said Friday during a news conference.
Justin Mohn, 32, was arrested hours later Tuesday after breaking into a state National Guard facility about 100 miles away, armed with a 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun that was missing one round, prosecutor Jennifer Schorn said.
Mohn told authorities he’d gone to the military installation “in an effort to mobilize the PA National Guard to raise arms against the federal government,” Schorn said. His father had worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Mohn was held without bond on charges including murder and abuse of a corpse, state court documents show. The gruesome, 14-minute video he posted was removed over its graphic violence, YouTube said, after circulating for hours and garnering 5,000 views.
The horrific case comes amid a fraught national political environment and as social media executives – who were grilled this week by Congress – have been under fire for allowing graphic and sometimes violent videos to be posted and remain on their sites.
“The bigger picture is extremely concerning, I think, as we go into what will be an incredibly heated political season,” CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
