A self-identified “incel”—short for involuntary celibate—teenager going by the online name Smooth Sanchez amassed more than 7,000 subscribers on YouTube with hoaxes and stunts, livestreaming himself illegally climbing the Queensboro Bridge in an admitted attempt to go viral and getting cited by Fox News host Tucker Carlson for tricking a young white woman into kneeling in front of him as a supposed gesture of respect for people of color.
On Wednesday, prosecutors claimed that 19-year-old Malik Sanchez committed a federal crime—via a hoax bomb threat against a restaurant where two young women allegedly harassed were dining.
Speaking to his YouTube followers outside that restaurant outside the Flatiron district, Sanchez said into the camera: “Let’s enhance their meal.”
That’s when prosecutors claim that Sanchez terrified two unindentified female victims with death threats.
“Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Bomb detonation in two, in two minutes,” the criminal complaint quotes him saying. “I take you with me and I kill all you. I kill all you right now. And I kill all you for Allah. Fuck, fuck that shit. I’m gonna Allah. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna fucking do it for Allah. I’m gonna do it, for, Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar, Come on. I do it, bomb now, bomb now.”
According to the complaint, the startled women gathered their belongings and went inside the restaurant, and prosecutors say that four others in the outdoor seating area ran away.
But Sanchez appeared to be pleased with the performance, prosecutors said.
“Yo, all of them scattered,” Sanchez is quoted saying. “Holy shit. Holy shit boys. That was fucking five stars. That was five stars. Holy shit, huh?”
At least one person dialed 911, but prosecutors say that Sanchez had left the area before police arrived.
The FBI agent investigating Sanchez’s case noted that attacks by so-called “incels” have had an alarming rise in recent years.
“Through online activity and in some instances violence, Incels primarily target those who they believe are unjustly denying them sexual or romantic attention, which in most cases are women,” FBI agent Ryan Symons wrote in Sanchez’s complaint. “Incels have conducted at least five lethal attacks in the United States and Canada since 2014, resulting in 28 deaths. For example, in May 2014, Elliot Rodger, whom Incels generally regard as the group’s founder, attacked a sorority house and pedestrians in Santa Barbara, California, with a knife, firearms, and a vehicle, killing six and injuring 14 victims. Prior to the attack, Rodger posted an online video titled ‘Elliot Rodger’s Retribution,’ and shared a written manifesto describing his grievance towards women and detailing a plan for their mass imprisonment and murder.”
Sanchez allegedly praised Eliot Rodger in one of those videos, in which he is seen harassing two women.
“Fuck you, you bitch,” Sanchez can be heard saying. “It’s ‘cause of you, it’s ‘cause of you that I’m a virgin—I have Incel rage. You know what? Elliot Rodgers was good. Elliot Rodgers was a good guy. I swear to God. Elliot Rodgers was a good guy. I swear to God that he should have blown their brains out a long time ago. I swear to fucking God. They deserved to be run over and hit by a truck. They deserved to be slaughtered. Slaughtered and hit by a fuckin’ truck. Fuck these fuckin’ bitches, man. Fuck.”
Sanchez is charged with one count of false information and hoaxes. He was arrested in Manhattan on Wednesday.
Reach his criminal complaint below:
(Screenshot from Sanchez’s YouTube video)
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