A Louisville soldier has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly planning an attack on his U.S. Army Unit.
Ethan Melzer, 22, is accused of planning the attack with a neo-Nazi and white supremacist group. He was charged with conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. military service members, attempting to provide and providing material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country.
Melzer is accused of using encrypted messaging to send messages to members and associates of an extremist organization, Order of the Nine Angles (O9A). The London-based organization is an occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, supporting violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and Satanic beliefs, according to the Department of Justice.
Melzer joined the U.S. Army in 2018 and O9A in 2019 and prior to planning the attack, he consumed propaganda from multiple extremist groups, the Department of Justice said.
“As the indictment lays out, Ethan Melzer plotted a deadly ambush on his fellow soldiers in the service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said in a release. “Our women and men in uniform risk their lives for our country, but they should never face such peril at the hands of one of their own. The National Security Division is proud to support the efforts of those who disrupted this planned attack and to seek justice for these acts.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
