‘Incel’ teen being held on federal bomb threat charge

NEW YORK >> A teenager who prosecutors say touts himself as subscribing to an online subculture that has been linked to violent attacks was arrested Wednesday on a bomb threat charge.

Nineteen-year-old Malik Sanchez, known online as “Smooth Sanchez,” was arrested on a charge of conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes after he allegedly made a hoax threat in February to detonate a bomb at a restaurant in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood. He was ordered held without bail.

In a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court, investigators said Sanchez on Feb. 13 posted a video online showing him approaching two women seated outside the restaurant and telling them that a bomb would go off in two minutes.

“I take you with me and I kill all you,” the criminal complaint quoted him as saying loudly. “I kill all you right now.” At least one person summoned law enforcement via 911, the complaint said. Sanchez had left by the time authorities arrived.

In March, the complaint said, Sanchez was arrested on state charges after he approached multiple women at an outdoor seating area in Manhattan and made hand gestures mimicking pointing a gun. When several individuals tried to get him to stop, he pepper sprayed one of them in the face, it said.

Prosecutors said Sanchez self-identifies as an “involuntary celibate” or “incel,” a mostly online group of individuals, primarily men, who believe society unjustly denies them sexual or romantic attention.