Gamer who threatened to kill Jews wants his gun back

GABE STUTMAN

Ross Farca of Concord, California, returned to court this week to contest a restraining order that would extend the prohibition on his possession of firearms.

Farca was released on bail days after his arrest on 10 June. The move shocked the local Jewish community. According to a police investigation, Farca professed admiration for the Poway and Christchurch shooters, assembled his own AR-15-style assault weapon, and on a gaming website, detailed a plan to mow down “clusterf***s of kikes”.

Jewish Vocational Service, based in downtown San Francisco, circulated an email with Farca’s mugshot, warning recipients to contact police if they saw him. One congregation hired a professional guard for Shabbat services on 21 June, and requested an increased police presence, according to a community-wide email.

A group of anxious parents and grandparents from the East Bay Jewish community who attended a preliminary hearing in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez on Tuesday wanted to know why Farca was released on bail in the first place.

One father in the group described Farca as “creepy” and “disturbed”.

“I sat behind him in the courtroom while he was talking quietly with his lawyer,” said the individual, who wished to be identified only as a “concerned East Bay Jewish parent” out of fear of being targeted. “Reading about his boasts of body counts, I thought, ‘This man wants to kill my son’.”

The father told J. that while exiting the building, Farca approached one of the grandmothers in the group, looked her in the eye and said, “I hope it goes well for you.”

“Then he walked away,” the parent said. “What did he mean by that? It was bizarre.”

According to the county bail schedule, the standards for being held without bail are quite high, and include crimes such as aggravated murder and possession of a deadly weapon by a prison inmate.

“Under the law, he’s allowed to make bail,” said Scott Alonso, a spokesperson for the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office. “It’s a very high burden to ask a judge to keep a defendant in custody on no bail.”

Still, Alonso said, “the charges in this case were very serious”. He said as part of the conditions of Farca’s release – in addition to a prohibition on handling firearms – he is subject to search and seizure by police “any time, day or night”.

Farca’s bail was initially set at $225 000 (R3.1 million), and approved by Judge Anita Santos on 12 June. An amount of $100 000 (R1.4 million) was allocated each for the charges of manufacturing an assault weapon, and possessing an illegal assault weapon, and $25 000 (R353 050) for making criminal threats.

But in a hearing the following day presided over by Judge David Goldstein, the bail amount was lowered by $100 000 (R1.4 million).

Alonso said the judge reduced the bail because two charges were related to the same weapon, and the California penal code prevents “stacking” of punishments related to the same criminal behaviour.

“Basically, they were alternative charges for the same gun,” Alonso said.

An emergency order that has kept guns away from Farca since his arrest expires on 1 July. He appeared in court with a private attorney on 26 June to protest the new order, sought by the Concord police department, that would continue the prohibition through to 15 July.

Farca was arrested following a tip to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he made online threats to commit a mass shooting, and boasted that he possessed an assault rifle, according to a court filing.

Farca used the screen name “Adolf Hitler (((6 million)))” on the video game site Steam to inveigh against Jews. He threatened an attack that would exceed the number of victims in the 27 April shooting at a synagogue in Poway, California, in which one woman died, and three were injured. He said he would do so while “wearing a Nazi uniform” and livestream it, like the shooter who killed 51 people and injured 49 in March during two consecutive terrorist attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Farca said he would add “Nazi music”.

“I have a fully semi-automatic weapon AR-15 with multiple high capacity magazines,” Farca wrote in his tagline, according to police. “Wanna see a mas[s] shooting with a body count of over 30-subhumans?” He anticipated he could “probably get a body count of like 30 kikes, and then like five police officers, because I would also decide to fight to the death”.

In a press release, police said a search warrant of Farca’s Concord home at the time of his arrest turned up an illegally assembled AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, several high-capacity magazines, and “Nazi literature, camouflage clothing, and a sword”. A Concord police officer later told J. that the literature included “some old-looking books” that appeared to be from the 1940s, and “related to Hitler youth”.

Farca was arrested and booked into Contra Costa County Jail on felony charges.

Farca did not stay in custody for long. The day after his bail reduction on 13 June, Farca posted bail through a bail bonds company, paying a 10% fee.

Rafael Brinner, the director of Jewish Community Security with the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation, said he was encouraged by how swiftly the authorities had arrested Farca after receiving a tip from the FBI, which had “averted a developing threat”. Brinner also said the authorities continued to “focus on mitigating any threat [Farca] might pose” after his release.

Still, some in the community remain uneasy. Farca’s next scheduled court date for criminal charges is 30 July.

The group of parents and grandparents who attended the preliminary hearing got a chance afterward to speak to the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Rachel K. Piersig. One Jewish parent was in tears as she told Piersig that she had taken her daughter out of school because she was so afraid of what Farca might do.

“It was very difficult,” the concerned dad said about the scene on Tuesday. “There was a feeling of real helplessness watching this person walk free.”