Prosecutors
have released disturbing new details about the beheading of a man by his son in
a suburban Philadelphia home.
Justin Mohn, 32,
allegedly shot his father, a federal worker, before using a knife and machete
to decapitate him.
He then posted a
rambling video on YouTube advocating the torture and killing of US government
employees.
The video was on the
site for several hours before it was taken down, authorities said.
Bucks County
District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said during a news conference on Friday that
Mr Mohn had a "clear plan" when he killed his father - 68-year-old
Michael Mohn - and then drove to a National Guard training centre two hours
away. He had hoped to stir up a rebellion there, she said.
"This
individual was acting with clear mind, aware of his actions and proud of his
consequences," she told reporters.
After the killing,
Mr Mohn posted a 14.5-minute video on YouTube titled Mohn's Militia - Call to
Arms for American Patriots.
In it, he appeared
to read from a script before picking up his father's severed head and showing
it to the camera, according to a police report.
He offered a bounty
for the killing of top federal officials, read out the home address of a judge,
and urged people watching to torture and kill federal agents. He also called
his father a "traitor" and expressed anger about "far-left woke
mobs", immigrants and the LGBTQ community.
Mr Mohn's father
worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, a branch of the US Army.
Police said the
video was live on the internet for about five hours. It was viewed more than
5,000 times.
"It's quite
horrifying how many views we understand it had before it was taken down,"
Ms Schorn said.
YouTube said in a
statement that the video was taken down for violating its rules against graphic
violence and violent extremism, and that it is working to remove re-uploads of
the clip.
The platform, which
is owned by Google, has not said why the video remained live for several hours.
Michael Mohn's
headless body was found by his wife in the bathroom of the family home,
prosecutors said. The head was found in a nearby bedroom. It was wrapped in a
plastic bag and placed inside a cooking pot.
Justin Mohn was
arrested with a loaded 9mm handgun at a National Guard base in Fort Indiantown
Gap, Pennsylvania, several hours after police were alerted to the attack on
Tuesday evening.
The base is about
100 miles (160km) from the Mohn family home in Levittown, a Philadelphia
suburb.
Ms Schorn said that
Mr Mohn bought a handgun the day before the killing and even gave up his
state-issued medical marijuana card, so that he could buy the firearm legally
under federal law.
Authorities said Mr
Mohn drove on to the base and scaled a fence hoping to encourage the National
Guard to start a rebellion against the US federal government.
Prosecutors say he
had held several jobs after graduating from Pennsylvania State University, but
he was unemployed and living with his parents at the time of the killing.
He was charged with
murder, abuse of a corpse and possession of an instrument of crime and has been
ordered held without bail.
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