FBI agents have arrested a 51-year-old Los Angeles man suspected of planning a mass-casualty attack at a Jewish preschool affiliated with the Chabad movement, after investigators uncovered a series of antisemitic social media posts and materials allegedly intended for making Molotov cocktails at his home.
The suspect, identified as Steven Carlos Duenas, allegedly targeted JEMS Preschool, a Jewish early-childhood education center affiliated with Chabad in Los Angeles. During a raid on the home he shares with his mother, federal agents discovered materials believed to be intended for incendiary devices, including a glass bottle containing gasoline.
Steven Carlos Duenas, the Los Angeles man accused of plotting an attack on a Chabad preschool
(Video: Social media)
The federal investigation focused on a series of posts Duenas allegedly published on X in mid-September. In one, he displayed what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail in front of a television showing footage of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, accompanied by a message urging people not to simply watch the war but to take part in it.
In another post, Duenas shared a video featuring music by the American rock band R.E.M., alongside a message expressing support for the Houthis, the Iran-backed terrorist group based in Yemen.
Other posts contained explicit threats against Jewish institutions. In one, he allegedly wrote, "Not enough synagogues have been burned down." In another, he claimed to have obtained Tomahawk missiles through Facebook Marketplace and threatened the preschool.
"I just acquired some Tomahawks from Facebook Marketplace, might bomb JEMS later," he wrote, according to reports citing the federal criminal complaint.
The posts, together with the materials discovered at his home, became central to the federal investigation into the suspected attack plot.
Duenas appeared in federal court in shackles during a hearing on his detention. Witnesses described him as visibly emotional, with tears running down his face. Before being taken back into custody, he silently mouthed "I love you" to his mother, who was sitting in the courtroom.
His next federal court hearing is scheduled for November 10.
One of the threatening messages attributed to Duenas
(Photo: X)
Duenas' mother, Maria Duenas, said her son had experienced a severe deterioration in his mental health in recent years. According to her account, he suffers from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and severe depression.
She said his dismissal from a job as a social worker for Los Angeles County, combined with the breakdown of his marriage and eventual divorce, contributed to a downward spiral involving heavy alcohol use and addiction to prescription medication.
The Chabad preschool in Los Angeles targeted in the alleged threats
(Photo: Google Maps)
His mother rejected the suggestion that her son had a deeply rooted hatred of Jewish people, saying the allegations were inconsistent with the person she had known and raised.
She expressed hope that he would receive psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation rather than remain trapped in the circumstances that she believes contributed to his deterioration.
The allegations against Duenas have not been proven in court.