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Alleged “Maniac Murder Cult” leader accused of planning to poison children in NYC
NEW YORK — The alleged leader of a violent extremist group plotted to poison children and minorities in New York City, authorities said Tuesday.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, 20, was arrested in Moldova on July 6.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Chkhikvishvili is the leader of the “Maniac Murder Cult,” an international racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist group.
Authorities said Chkhikvishvili was staying with a relative in Brooklyn in 2022 and began using encrypted mobile messaging platforms to encourage others to commit violent hate crimes. He also claimed that he committed hate crimes himself while living there.
An undercover law enforcement employee contacted Chkhikvishvili via one of these platforms and claimed to be a prospective recruit for the extremist group.
Beginning around November 2023, Chkhikvishvili allegedly asked the undercover employee to commit acts of mass violence, such as bombings and arsons, targeting racial minorities and Jewish people, and provided detailed plans and instructions on how to make bombs and Molotov cocktails, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Georgian national planned New Year’s Eve attack in NYC
According to authorities, in November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began to plan an attack that would take place in New York City on New Year’s Eve.
Chkhikvishvili allegedly planned to have someone dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poison-laced candy to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn.
Authorities said Chkhikvishvili told the undercover employee how to make ricin-based poisons, along with other lethal poisons and gases.
On Monday, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn returned a four-count indictment charging Chkhikvishvili with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.