Tucson ‘former incel’ gets 16 mos. for threatening UA mass shooting

27-year-old Tucson man who threatened to commit a mass shooting at the University of Arizona last year has been sentenced to federal prison for 16 months. Michael Pengchung Lee, who is not a UA student, used incel references in his threats.

In a series of posts to a group Snapchat in October 2023, Lee said he was going to cause a “mass tragedy and atrocity” at the UA, according to court documents. In the posts, he said he would buy an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and focused his ire on the university’s fraternities and sororities.

Lee also linked himself to Elliot Rodger, an “involuntary celibate” who murdered six people, including fraternity and sorority members, and wounded more than a dozen others in California nearly 10 years ago.

“The day of retribution is upon us, I shall get revenge of all the chads and stacies,” Lee wrote, according to the federal indictment. The phrases match the language of Rodger, and other incels—a misogynistic movement fueled by online discourse that has become real-world violence in several incidents in the U.S. and Canada.

In that social media thread, Lee said “im gonna do it guys, my mind is made up and there’s nothing u can do or say to stop me,” federal officials said.

Read more: Tucson Sentinel