Man arrested after claiming severed head in YouTube video was his father – a federal worker – amid Biden administration rant

Originally Published: 31 JAN 24 08:13 ET Updated: 31 JAN 24 10:37 ET By Zenebou Sylla, Melissa Alonso, Amanda Jackson, Holly Yan and Danny Freeman, CNN

(CNN) — Editor’s note: This story includes graphic descriptions some readers may find disturbing.

A gruesome killing is under investigation after a man posted a social media video showing what he claimed was his father’s decapitated head and ranting about the Biden administration and the border crisis while declaring himself the new acting US president under martial law.

The video circulated for hours on YouTube – garnering more than 5,000 views – before it was taken down. Justin Mohn, 32, now is being held without bond, charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and other charges, Pennsylvania court documents show.

The horrifying case comes amid a fraught national political environment and as social media executives – getting grilled Wednesday by Congress – have been under fire for allowing graphic and sometimes violent videos to be posted and remain on their sites.

“The bigger picture is extremely concerning, I think, as we go into what will be an incredibly heated political season,” CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said.

How the grisly discovery unfolded

Middletown Township Police were dispatched at 7 p.m. Tuesday after a report of a deceased male, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.

“The call to emergency dispatchers came from the victim’s wife. When officers arrived, they located the male deceased in the bathroom,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. “The victim’s adult son was not present when police arrived and left the area in his father’s vehicle.”

The suspect was identified as the victim’s son, Police Chief Joseph Bartorilla told CNN. He fled in a vehicle and was taken into custody hours later more than 100 miles to Fort Indiantown Gap, near a National Guard training base by civilian police with assistance from Pennsylvania State Police, Bartorilla and the district attorney’s office said. The vehicle was recovered.

In the video posted on YouTube, the man identifying himself as Mohn apparently reads from a written statement and at one point holds up what appears to be a bloodied head inside a clear plastic bag. He says his father, who was a federal employee for over 20 years, was a traitor to his country.

“America is rotting from the inside out as far left, woke mobs rampage our once prosperous cities,” he says in the video.

“YouTube has strict policies prohibiting graphic violence and violent extremism,” the company told CNN Wednesday in a statement. “The video was removed for violating our graphic violence policy and Justin Mohn’s channel was terminated in line with our violent extremism policies. Our teams are closely tracking to remove any re-uploads of the video.”

It is unclear whether Mohn has an attorney; CNN has reached out to the Bucks County public defender for comment. He was arraigned early Wednesday via video, according to WPVI. A judge ordered him held without bond, court records show; his next hearing is set for February 8.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office will hold a news conference on Wednesday, Bartorilla said.

‘Deeply politicized, extreme rhetoric’

As authorities wait on more facts to understand the “specific motives, you can make some assumptions based on his claims in the video that he’s been motivated by politics,” the former FBI deputy director said Wednesday.

“The bigger picture here is that this is another example of the fact that the kind of overheated, deeply politicized, extreme rhetoric that you hear sometimes in this country from politically elected officials and leaders actually has an impact on these marginalized people with extremist views who might be … driven to embark in acts of violence,” he said.

“Some of the things that he has said on the video – allegedly referring to woke mobs and things like that – that’s not dissimilar from rhetoric that you hear from some politicians that we’ve heard recently in the primary season,” McCabe said.

“So this kind of language has an effect on the … most vulnerable, most potentially dangerous part of our population. And I think it’s something that most security officials are really concerned about.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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