Authorities believe the chilling murder of two parents by their teenage son earlier this year was just the start of a plot that led all the way to a fourth assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, they announced Sunday.
The mother and stepfather of Nikita Casap, a 17-year-old boy in Waukesha, Wisconsin, were found dead in what officers say was a double homicide committed by Casap as he set out to acquire both the independence and resources to carry out an attack on the president.
“The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carry out his plan,” FBI agents state in a recent affidavit.
Casap was bound last week pending trial. He faces two counts of first-degree homicide, among a slew of other charges.
The FBI, which is working with federal prosecutors to progress the case, believes there is probable cause to seek charges related to plotting a presidential assassination attempt, conspiracy, and use of weapons of mass destruction, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
On February 28th, local officers discovered the bodies of Tatiana Casap and Donald Mayer while performing a wellness check at their Cider Hills Drive house in the village of Waukesha.
Both were found shot and buried under piles of clothing in a residence where Nikita Casap also lived. According to allegations in the complaint, the 17-year-old may have stayed in the house for as long as 12 days with both bodies present.
In late March, authorities filed a criminal complaint containing testimony by a female classmate of Casap at Waukesha West High School who claimed to have seen a three-page manifesto on his phone calling for the killing of President Trump. The affidavit states that his manifesto included discussions of bomb-making and coordinating a terrorist attack.
By the time he was caught, Casap had partially paid for a drone and explosive materials to carry out an attack, authorities say.
A search warrant was carried out for Mayer’s SUV where officers discovered pried-open safe, electronics — including an iPad from the Waukesha School District — jewelry and approximately $14,000, among other items, according to the outlet. They add that Casap drove the vehicle across state lines while acquiring the resources he sought.
The young man’s manifesto contained white supremacist views, including a copy of “The Order of Nine Angels,” a neo-Nazi publication.
Casap remains held on a $1 million bond. He is set to be arraigned on May 7th.
President Trump has so far been subjected to three other attempts or plots on his life. On July 15th, 2024, he was struck by a rifle round in Butler, Pennsylvania, and one month later, was nearly shot again when a gunman was found lurking in the bushes of his West Palm Beach property while he played golf there.
Then, in February, reporters at Politico reported that authorities sometime last year discovered a plot by Iranian actors to target Trump’s plane with surface-to-air missiles. It was believed they intended to strike during the 2024 presidential election.
