A Pennsylvania Man Was Arrested After Presumptively Sawing Off His Father's Head and Posting It Online

During a 14-minute outburst on YouTube supporting right-wing conspiracies, a 32-year-old man is being held by the police for allegedly killing his father, chopping off his head, and showing it on camera.

Official charges have been brought against Justin Mohn, a resident of Levittown, a suburb of Philadelphia, for first-degree murder and violating a body. He had just leaped a fence at a National Guard base about 100 miles from his house when he was apprehended. He was armed.

According to police, he didn't fight arrest.

Michael Mohn, his father, was employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a government employee. Justin Mohn held aloft his father's severed skull and called him a traitor to his nation in an angry video that he uploaded to YouTube and was active for hours.

The video was seen over 5,000 times before it was taken down, which happened a few hours later.

Extremist right-wing conspiracy theories about the Biden administration, immigration and the border, urban violence, and the conflict in Ukraine were among the many diatribes heard in the video. In addition, Mohn proclaimed martial law and himself the new acting president of the United States. He then demanded the brutal killing of all government workers, whom he also considered to be traitors.

In addition to being unsettling in and of itself, analysts are worried about the possible implications of this horrific act of violence for the forthcoming electoral season.

The Finding of Michael Mohn's Corpse

On January 30, around 7:00 p.m., Denice, the wife of Michael Mohn, came home to find her husband dead in their bathroom. Michael Mohn's head and automobile were missing, as was the couple's son Justin.

A statement obtained by CNN states that when the police were contacted by Denice Mohn, they found a huge kitchen knife and machete in the bathtub.

The affidavit states that in a first-floor room close to the bathroom, "officers also located the male's head inside of a plastic bag which was inside of a cooking pot."

Police were notified of Justin Mohn's YouTube video, in which he introduces himself and seems to be speaking from a prepared statement. He displays his father's head inside a transparent plastic bag at one point. He calls his father, Michael Mohn, a "traitor" who worked for the federal government for twenty years.

Michael Mohn worked as an engineer in the Philadelphia District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' geoenvironmental division.

In the video, Justin Mohn declares, "America is rotting from the inside out as far left, woke mobs rampage our once prosperous cities."

YouTube claimed in a statement that the video was taken down due to it breaking the site's rules against graphic violence. Additionally, it shut down Justin Mohn's channel in compliance with YouTube's guidelines against violent extremism.

YouTube stated, "Our teams are closely monitoring to remove any re-uploads of the video."

A Past of Risky And Radical Opinions

According to reports, Justin Mohn has a past filled with extreme and paranoid ideas. Mohn intimidated and harassed staff members at a Colorado Springs credit union where he had worked before, as reported by the Associated Press.

He demanded a $2 million settlement from the company or he would sue it for $10 million. In addition, he declared that he would record himself making up lies to get the police to assault its workers.

In a disciplinary case against him when he was employed, Mohn claimed that colleagues had tampered with the evidence. Moreover, Mohn's lyrics from a piece of poetry or song were deemed menacing by colleagues. "Men Don't Get No Warning Shots" was the article's title.

When the two were living together, about 2016, Mohn's former flatmate Davis Rebhan claimed to have frequently overheard Mohn announcing absurd conspiracy beliefs.

He had obvious problems even then. Rebhan told CNN that "he would always talk about how the government was trying to get him, and it was always like these hazy stories about it." "He never offered precise instances. It was difficult to believe anything he said or to know what he was saying was true because he would tell me these stories that always looked excessive." 

For over a year, the two cohabited, and throughout that time, Mohn only ever had his father visit.

Rebhan stated, "I got nothing from that visit that would have made me ever think this would happen."

Following his dismissal, Mohn filed a lawsuit against Progressive Insurance, claiming that he had been subjected to discrimination because he was a guy who was "intelligent, overqualified, and overeducated."

According to a federal judge, Mohn offered no proof that this was the case. Instead, the business claimed that he was let go for forcing open a door.

It wasn't out of character for Mohn to strike out so brutally, according to Rebhan.

As stated by Rebhan, "he threw a tantrum and destroyed the flat at one point. I don't know what caused it; I wasn't home when he did it. However, after a lengthy discussion, he disclosed to me that he had untreated PTSD."

The Unsettling Possible Consequences Of "Extreme Rhetoric"

While Mohn's situation is undoubtedly a troubling anomaly, some experts worry that other people who share Mohn's characteristics may also be incited to violence by "deeply politicised, extreme rhetoric."

"As we enter what will undoubtedly be a very hot election season", CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stated, "I think the bigger picture is extremely concerning."

Given his video tirade, it is reasonable to believe that Mohn was driven by political motivations. McCabe claims that the bigger worry is that Mohn's comments are indicative of the kind of "extreme, highly politicised, and heated rhetoric that you hear sometimes in this country from politically elected officials and leaders."

McCabe expressed worry that "marginalised people with extremist views who might be... driven to embark in acts of violence" could be seriously impacted by this type of speech.

With the impending presidential election in 2024, it is certain to be a contentious year politically. However, narratives such as Mohn's illustrate the damaging effects that violent language and the spread of extreme conspiracy theories can have on marginalised and violent groups within society.