A North Carolina man is facing federal charges over a comment posted online in which he allegedly threatened to “shoot up a black pre-school,” after which the victims would be “skinned,” according to an FBI probable cause affidavit reviewed by The Independent.
Zachary Charles Newell, 25, was arrested Monday on one count of making an interstate threat to kidnap or injure.
On Sunday, a cybercrime team at Google flagged a disturbingly violent YouTube comment to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, the affidavit states. It says the comment had been uploaded to the video-sharing site four days prior, at 10:37 a.m. local time, by a user with the screenname “CommentatorsHateMe.”
Posted beneath a video by YouTuber “Andrew Esquire,” a Florida lawyer whose real name is Andrew Clifford d'Adesky, CommentatorsHateMe wrote, “I’m gonna shoot up a black pre-school. 20 black babies will be shot and then skinned like the animals they are,” the affidavit goes on.
In the video, d’Adesky was discussing a reported Los Angeles police investigation into Raja Jackson, an MMA fighter who apparently went off-script while making an appearance in a professional wrestling match and put his opponent in the hospital with severe injuries.
The affidavit points out that Jackson, son of UFC icon Quinton Jackson, “is a Black male.” The pro wrestler on the receiving end of the pummelling, Stuart “Syko Stu” Smith, is white.
D’Adesky, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, did not respond on Tuesday to a request for comment.
A day before that, CommentatorsHateMe had posted a separate comment to another public YouTube video, titled, “WWE Wrestler Reacts to Raja Jackson Incident,” according to the affidavit.
“You're an incel p***y,” the comment read. “A literal [N-word] hiding in Germany. Wait until they gut you like the animal you are. The amount of pain and suffering black people are about to suffer makes me so happy.”
It didn’t take the FBI much time to track down CommentatorsHateMe: the tip from Google identified the account owner as Newell, and included his email address, recovery email, phone number and home address, as well as an IP address that traced back to him, the affidavit continues.
Later that day, deputies with the Carteret County Sheriff's Office showed up at the mobile home where Newell lives and asked if he was active on social media, according to the affidavit. Newell said that he had posted on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, the affidavit states.
“Deputies advised Newell they were contacted by the FBI and advised of a recent post on YouTube that Newell was going to shoot up an African-American pre-school and skin the children as the animals that they are,” the affidavit concludes. “Newell advised deputies that [he] had made the comment on YouTube.”
Earlier this year, a student was expelled from a local Ohio school after allegedly threatening to kill all the Black students there. In 2024, a Connecticut teen was arrested for allegedly making death threats on social media toward Black students at Glastonbury High School. Another, similar case, in 2023, involved an Instagram post threatening Black students at Western High School in Anaheim, California.
In 2018, a Virginia man and registered sex offender was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for an online post threatening a mass shooting at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, D.C.
“After all, it’s not murder if they’re black,” 26-year-old John Edgar Rust wrote in the vile missive.
Newell, who does not yet have an attorney listed in court records, was unable to be reached. He is due to appear in Wilmington, North Carolina, federal court on Wednesday morning.
If convicted, Newell faces up to five years in prison.
Minneapolis shooting reignites debate over gun control and prayer
Landlord describes ‘campaign of hate’ after racist burning of cars
Investigation launched after noose found at site of Tennessee Titans’ new stadium
ICE is showing up to interview parents hoping to reunite with their children who entered US alone
A House committee investigating the Jeffrey Epstein case has withdrawn a subpoena to Robert Mueller
The success of AI music creators sparks debate on future of music industry
