Ohio boy, 13, faces hearing on charges of planning mass shooting at synagogue

A 13-year-old Ohio boy charged in early September with planning a mass shooting at a local synagogue will appear in family court next Wednesday for a pretrial hearing, according to court documents.

Around September 1, the teenager "did create a detailed plan to complete a mass shooting at the Temple Israel" in Canton, just south of Akron, Ohio, according to a complaint from an official with the Stark County Sheriff's office.

The plan was allegedly posted on the messaging platform Discord and subsequently reported to law enforcement, who investigated and notified several individuals and agencies, including the local school system, "which caused significant public alarm," the complaint said.

The teenager, whose name is redacted in the court documents, was charged on September 8 with "inducing panic" and "disorderly conduct," according to the complaint.

An attorney who represented him in a November appearance before the Stark County Court of Common Pleas, Family Division, did not immediately return requests for comment.

Attack was allegedly planned before October 7

Although the teenager allegedly planned his attack before the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, his pretrial hearing on December 20 comes amid a surge in reported antisemitic incidents across the United States, according to Jewish advocacy groups such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

In a post on social media platform X on Wednesday, the ADL said it was "horrified" by the charges, and expressed hope that the arrest could be a "teachable moment" for other young people.

"Hate and threats on social media, as in real life, cannot and will not be tolerated," the post said.

The rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic discrimination in US schools during Israel's ongoing war in Gaza prompted the US Education Department in November to open probes into six colleges and one Kansas school district.