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A 19-year-old streamer has been arrested after carrying out a hoax bomb threat inside a restaurant in New York City.
Malik Sanchez, who goes by Smooth Sanchez on YouTube, carried out the “prank” in Manhattan on Feb. 13, as seen in his stream cited by the US Department of Justice in a release on April 14.
In the video, Sanchez can be seen approaching a restaurant with around six people inside while saying, “Let’s enhance their meal.”
He then positioned himself near two women at a table after entering, then loudly said, “Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Bomb detonation in two, in two minutes. I take you with me and I kill all you. I kill all you right now. And I kill all you for Allah (sic).”
“I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna f*cking do it for Allah. I’m gonna do it, for, Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar, Come on. I do it, bomb now, bomb now,” he continued, all the while faking an Arabic accent.
Right after people left, Sanchez expressed his delight to his streaming audience and proceeded to run away while laughing.
At least one person dialed 911 on Sanchez’s bomb threat, according to the DOJ. Malik had already left the area, however, when law enforcers arrived.
“As alleged, Malik Sanchez perpetrated a hoax bomb threat at a Manhattan restaurant that frightened innocent victims, sowed chaos, and diverted precious law enforcement resources. Today’s arrest makes clear that such conduct will not be tolerated,” Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss said of the incident.
“Whether real or perceived, a threat of violence is a serious action with real-life consequences. In this case, Sanchez’s alleged behavior carries the potential for a federal prison sentence. Anyone who intends to carry out a similar hoax should know that the FBI’s JTTF is ready and willing to respond,” FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr., meanwhile, noted.
Prior to the one that led to his arrest, Sanchez had carried out several bomb threats while streaming and is known for harassing strangers, who are mostly women.
Smooth Sanchez of the ‘Incel Army’
Sanchez was also noted to be a self-identified involuntary celibate or incel, which the DOJ describes as referring to “a primarily online group of individuals, mostly men, who believe that society unjustly denies them sexual or romantic attention to which they are entitled.”
“SANCHEZ has posted multiple videos to social media accounts depicting SANCHEZ harassing, threatening, and in one instance harming individuals whom SANCHEZ encounters in Manhattan, while expressing support for Incel ideology, including for carrying out violence against women in the name of the group,” the DOJ added.
The DOJ then cited Malik’s video posted on Feb. 7, which is titled “INCEL ARMY RISE UP,” as an example of such behavior.
In the video, Malik can be seen harassing two women as they walk on the street also in Manhattan, yelling at them that he had “Incel Rage.”
He also told the women that he supported the incel group’s involuntary founder Elliot Rodger, who attacked a sorority house and pedestrians in California in 2014, killing six victims and injuring 14 others.
Malik added that Rodger’s victims “deserved to be run over and hit by a truck. They deserved to be slaughtered,” according to the DOJ.
In another video, posted on March 20, Sanchez harassed a group of women by proclaiming his support for incels and Rodger while making hand gestures and mimicking pointing a gun at them.
Several individuals then tried to stop Sanchez, who then pepper-sprayed one of them in the face. He was also arrested then by the New York Police Department and was charged with state offenses, but was released on bail.
For the bomb threat, Sanchez has been charged with one count of conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. The case is being handled by the Office’s terrorism and international narcotics unit. /ra
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