The apparent leader of a cult group linked to several murders was arrested in the United States.
Police said Jack Lasota – known as Ziz – was detained on Maryland on Sunday and faces accusations, including intrusion, possession of a handgun in a vehicle, and obstructing and loyal.
Michelle Zajko, 32, and Daniel Blank, 26, were arrested for similar accusations and the three are detained in a local prison.
“The Ziziens” were linked to the murder of the American agent of the border patrol David Maland in January, as well as five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California.
The border patrol agent David Maland was shot down last month. Pic: AP
Mr. Maland, 44, died during a shooting after stopping traffic near the Canadian border in Vermont.
One of the disciples of Lasota, the German national Ophelia Bauckholt, was also killed in the incident when a woman with whom she was, Teresa Youngblut, would have opened fire.
Lasota, 34, who uses her pronouns and said online that she is a transgender woman, is a computer programmer and seems to be the head of the Ziziens.
According to the Associated Press news agency, the group seems to be made up of very intelligent computer scientists, mainly in the twenties and the thirties, who met online, shared anarchist beliefs and have become more and more violent.
Their objectives are not clear, but online writings cover subjects of gender identity, radical veganism and artificial intelligence.
Lasota’s blog describes a theory that the two brain hemispheres could contain distinct values and genres and “often want to kill themselves”.
Teresa Youngblut was charged as part of the filming of David Maland. Pic: AP
One of the other murders to which the group was linked is the stabbing of an 82 -year -old man in northern California last month.
Prosecutors believe that it is to silence it before the trial for an alleged sword attack of 2022 by dissatisfied tenants, in which he lost an eye.
The man accused of the murder, Maximilian Snyder, would have a relationship with Teresa Youngblut – the alleged shooter in the death of the border patrol officer.
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In 2023, the parents of Michelle Zajko – The woman arrested alongside Lasota on Sunday – were also found slaughtered in their house in Pennsylvania.
Lasota was accused of having hampered the investigation and liberation under bond, and subject to an arrest warrant after having failed to appear before the court.
Zajko was also asked about the murder of his parents, but was released later and was not charged.
A lawyer from Lasota, Daniel McGarrigle, refused to comment when he was asked if his client was linked to one of the deaths.
An audience for release under deposit is scheduled for Tuesday.
