Member of far-right 'Incel' extremist movement planned mass attack at Tampa TPUSA events, feds say

A San Antonio man with ties to the extremist "incel" movement and America First white nationalist Nick Fuentes was arrested after feds say he planned to carry out a mass attack at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa last month.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 19-year-old Alejandro Richard Velasquez Gomez, was arrested on Aug. 11 on one count of making threatening interstate communications along with one count of possession of child pornography.

In the complaint, the Tampa Police Department first learned of a threatening Instagram post from Valasquez on July 18, and "believed the post to be a credible threat against the participants attending the SAS conference."

On July 21,  TPD then obtained an arrest warrant and charged Velasquez with violating "Florida Criminal Law, 836.10, written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism."

The complaint also says Velasquez purchased an American Airlines plane ticket from Austin to Tampa on July 22, the same day law enforcement arrested him under the Tampa warrant.

Velasquez's arrest was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News, which claimed he was targeting TPUSA because the group had excluded America First founder Nick Fuentes from its gathering in 2021.

Fuentes has since denied any affiliation with Velasquez, and in a Telegram post on Friday insisted he has nothing to do with his "America First” Foundation.

"As far as I'm aware he attended CPAC Dallas last year where I briefly made an appearance," said Fuentes. "Claims on social media that he was part of our team in any way are completely untrue. Censorship, debanking, and blacklisting didn't work so now they lie."
The Secret Service issued a report last March labeling the "Incel Movement" as a growing terrorism threat from men who call themselves "anti-feminists" or "involuntary celibates."

But besides a violent incel, Tampa's TPUSA event last July also attracted a handful of neo-Nazis, carrying swastika flags and "DeSantis County" flags. 

Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told CL at the time that TPUSA had no idea who the Nazi groups were or why they turned up outside the convention.

"They have nothing to do with TPUSA, our event, or our students. Our students took the mature route and vacated the space the Nazi flag holders were in. Once that happened, they left," Kolvet said, adding that TPUSA students also argued with the Nazis before disengaging.