Antioch High School identified as Solomon Henderson

Source: gerenme/Getty

There were plenty of distractions in the news cycle on the day Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, became a sad new entry on the list of schools that have suffered shootings. However, the lives lost and the physical and mental injuries suffered are certainly not forgotten. Today we have new information about the “alleged” culprit.

According to News channel 5The Metro Nashville Police Department publicly identified the shooter as 17-year-old Solomon Henderson. He is accused of killing 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante and injuring another student with a gunshot wound. Investigators say they found documents posted by Henderson on an anonymous social media account showing a map of the school property, photos of a handgun, shotgun shells and a lock-picking kit. The social media page also included posts indicating that Henderson wanted to livestream the cafeteria shooting.

Usually when these kinds of things happen, we expect the culprit to be a non-black person, but unfortunately, that's not the case this time. One of the first messages detectives found on social media was Henderson expressing his displeasure at having melanin in his skin, saying he “was ashamed of being black.” He also posted anti-Semitic comments and shared an event flyer from a neo-Nazi group called the Goyim Defense League.

“I was so unhappy. I wanted to kill myself. I couldn't take it anymore. I am a worthless subhuman, a living shame. All my friends (in real life) have passed me by and act like they don't know me. Being me was so humbling. This is why I spend all day dissociating.

Henderson also wrote a manifesto in which he cited sold-out curator Candace Owens as the inspiration for his rampage. Via Daily Mail:

“Candace Owens especially influenced me every time she spoke. I was amazed by her ideas and her own opinions pushed me further and further into believing in violence on the Jewish question,” perhaps we read in the manifesto.

Owens took to Twitter to refute claims that she inspired this boy to kill his classmates despite the fact that she had no proof to do so.

Just because something is “plagiarized” doesn’t mean the shooter didn’t feel that way.

Our sincere condolences go to the family and friends of the deceased young woman as well as the Antioch community.