Two Inland Empire Men, Three Others Arrested and Charged in Plot to Kill Government Officials, Others Attending White House UFC Event

RIVERSIDE, California - The Justice Department today announced federal criminal charges against five men - two of them from the Inland Empire - for an alleged plot to carry out an attack to kill government officials and others attending the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) held at the White House last Sunday.

Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, and Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, were arrested Saturday and made their initial appearances on Monday in United States District Court in Riverside.

Roa and Thomas are charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a statutory maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

On Monday, United States Magistrate Judge David T. Bristow ordered Roa and Thomas jailed without bond. No pleas were taken. The arraignments for Roa and Thomas are scheduled for July 7 and July 21, respectively, in U.S. District Court in Riverside.

The FBI launched an investigation into the plot and identified a group of conspirators who procured weapons and made plans to carry out the attack. The FBI made arrests over the weekend in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, and California. The investigation remains ongoing.

"The FBI, our law enforcement partners and our U.S. Attorneys did what they do every day to make America Safe through quick response and vigilance in investigating, disrupting, and dismantling this alleged plan before it could be carried out," said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. "We will take immediate and aggressive action to identify and prosecute those who incite and plan acts of violence."

"Thanks to the swift work of federal agents and prosecutors, a potential mass casualty attack was prevented," said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. "There is no place in our country for political violence. Those who plot violence against the President and Congressional leaders face serious consequences, including possible life sentences."

"On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region - and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "While the result represented the best of investigative work, it was also nothing out of the ordinary for this law enforcement team - we are built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens - particularly during large gatherings like the historic UFC 250 fight. That's exactly what we did here. I want to thank our great agents and partners, this work remains ongoing and we will continue to update the public as permitted. We continue to encourage any American to report anything suspicious at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov."

According to court documents, the defendants conspired to plan and execute a mass-casualty event targeting U.S. officials in attendance at the June 14 UFC Freedom 250 event hosted on the White House grounds. Proper amassed firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and tactical gear at his home in Ohio, and he identified potential targets, including multiple members of the United States Congress.

The conspirators allegedly planned to deploy drones armed with explosives in and around the UFC Freedom 250 event to force an evacuation of the event and then planned to deploy snipers to fire upon 'high value targets' within the fleeing crowd. Before executing the plan, Proper and other conspirators planned to rendezvous in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

According to an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint, law enforcement executed a search warrant ofRoa's residence and his vehicle during which they seized a rifle, handgun, tactical belt, ammunition and a rifle magazine, a two-way radio, and an infrared laser target pointer.

A search of Roa's phone found messages in a group with several other co-conspirators including Thomas, Proper, in which they planned an attack at the UFC event at the White House, with some users discussing using drones rigged with explosives in order to initiate the attack, with rooftop snipers killing individuals. Law enforcement also found Instagram videos Roa had posted of himself shooting guns.

Thomas participated in a group chat planning the attack at the UFC event at the White House. In a group chat, on June 7, he allegedly wrote "$1300 gets us the drones and the charges. Yes we should all pitch in and we need it asap…"

In another group chat, Thomas, under a pseudonym, allegedly described "tiers" of operators within their anti-government group, with tier 1 being operators on the ground, tier 2 being drivers and drone operators, tier 3 being logistical suppliers, and tier 4 being social media influencers. "Tier one status is not something to take lightly. … We will make sure they have…All the tier 2 support we can provide. We will try to break them out of jail if we need to."

In the same group chats, Thomas discussed meeting with Roa in person in Southern California to conduct "marksmen training" and reflected that the group needed to train for "gorilla style warfare."

FBI agents seized from Thomas' residence a rifle, 30-round extended magazines for the rifle, 180 rounds of ammunition, and a pistol.

Charged in separate federal criminal complaints are Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio, Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri, and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Eskridge is charged with conspiracy to commit murder as well as conspiracy to commit violent or disruptive conduct on White House grounds. According to the complaint, the FBI identified Eskridge while reviewing electronic communications on Proper's cellular phone.

The co-conspirators had electronic chats on a social media platform SimpleX. In those chats, members of the group allegedly discussed assassinating several United States Senators, Representatives and prominent business executives. Members of the group targeted some legislators based on the group's perceived belief that the legislators accepted money from pro-Israel lobbies.

When discussing potential targets, Eskridge indicated that the target was "big and someone a majority of the country knows." In the discussions, power grids were also identified as potential targets.

On May 22, 2026, Eskridge distributed a picture of tactical equipment, including a rifle, helmet, and ballistic vest.

In a separate chat group, a conversation allegedly took place in early June when Eskridge and some of the other chat group members discussed their plan to attack the UFC Freedom 250 event.

Specifically, Thomas stated, "Pensilvania [sic] avenue." Eskridge said the group should obtain $1,300 in United States currency and they needed "5 teams of 3 each team consisting of 1 sniper, 1 tier one operator as support/ look out, [and] one drone operator." Eskridge said the money would provide them the funding to purchase "drones and charges," and encouraged the group to all "pitch in."

On June 13, law enforcement officials executed a federal search warrant at Eskridge's residence. Agents recovered rifles, a shot gun, pistol, and other tactical gear.

According to the charges filed in Nebraska, the FBI identified Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez as the individual using the name "Shepherd" in a Signal Group that was used to plan an attack on the UFC Freedom 250 event scheduled to be held at the Whtie House on June 14, 2026.

The FBI assessed that Alvarez, a/k/a "Shepherd" was responsible for planning, organizing and directing the planned attack, based on conversation excerpts in June when Shepherd posted, "This is the best action I see. Position your teams in the purple dots (counter sniper and drones) Long range (circled area) (great shot) Easy out into the river."

The complaint further alleges Shepherd then provided direction for a safe zone and instructed the other members to take back roads or the river down to the "pick up location." Later that same evening, Shepherd also provided locations in the area for drone launch points and sniper positions.

A criminal complaint contains merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Conspiracy to commit violence on White House grounds carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The FBI and the United States Secret Service are investigating this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Colin S. Scott of the National Security Division is prosecuting this case.