Web posts hinted at Halifax death plot
Two people accused of plotting to open fire in a Halifax mall shared a long-standing connection online and often posted unnerving material about Nazis and mass murderers, it was reported Monday.
The Daily Mirror and Guardian newspapers reported that Lindsay Kantha Souvannarath, 23, of Geneva, Ill., and Randall Steven Shepherd, 20, of Halifax — who are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder — often shared gruesome posts and had created images foreshadowing their attack, which police allege was to happen at Halifax Shopping Centre on Valentine’s Day.
The third suspect, widely reported as Halifax resident Jamie Gamble, 19, was found dead by police Friday morning at a home in Timberlea, a community on the outskirts of Halifax.
Gamble was also connected to Shepherd and Souvannarath via Facebook and other sites, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported.
A social-networking website believed to be linked to Gamble features pictures of weapons, Nazi symbols and images relating to the Columbine school shooting. Other pictures on the social-media site show the young man posing with a rifle and a knife.
On Feb. 5, an image circulated on another account featuring what is believed to be the Gamble’s username and the phrase: “Valentine’s Day it’s going down.”
Shepherd’s online presence included a Tumblr blog with the name genesistogenocide, according to the Herald. The blog, titled Service for a Vacant Coffin, is an ode to “gore, porn, Columbine, horror and heavy f---ing metal,” the Herald reported.
The Mirror reported that Souvannarath’s online activity included references to the Ku Klux Klan.
“Free speech is dead,” she apparently wrote in one forum in 2007. “That’s why we need people like (former KKK leader) David Duke to bring it to life again.”
The Mirror reported that in one post, from Wednesday, Souvannarath shared a movie poster showing two ghoulish figures with the words: “Valentine’s Day. It’s going down.” Beneath the poster she added: “It’s almost here. The clock is ticking.”
Another post on her blog reads “Saturday the 14th” in red, The Mirror reported.
A spokesman for the private college Souvannarath attended in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, declined to speak about the young woman.
However, Rod Pritchard confirmed in an email that Souvannarath enrolled at Coe College in 2010 and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing.
It appears Souvannarath wrote for the English department’s Coe Review, an online literary publication that included a story attributed to her called My Pet Skeleton.
In the story, posted on July 10, 2013, the author describes owning a pet skeleton that scares people in department stores, restaurants and her grandmother’s house.
“Everyone else’s skeletons are locked up in closets,” the story says as it concludes. “Most people think they should stay there. Maybe you do, too. But I wouldn’t say anything bad about skeletons. There’s one inside you.”