What a would-be assassin’s internet history looks like

Nicholas Roske was obsessed with finding someone to assassinate months before targeting Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

In January 2022, Roske was conducting Google searches on mass shootings and visiting websites for “games where you play as a serial killer and try to get away with murder.”

That spring, Roske was also on Discord, a chat app popular with gamers. Roske posted that they could never “just hurt a random person” but had “violent thoughts towards people I feel are bad.” Roske also looked online for information about some high-profile shootings and conducted a Google search for “best place to find video of school shooting” and several others on how to buy guns.

The assassination plans crystallized that May after someone leaked a Supreme Court draft of what would become the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade. That was when Roske started exploring “best way to break into a house,” “how much force do you need to stab someone’s neck” and “most effective way to silently kill someone.”

Roske, who now identifies as Sophie Roske, began researching the backgrounds of at least four justices online and eventually settled on Justice Kavanaugh as his target. At one point, Roske posted to Reddit.com asking whether having Justice Kavanaugh “removed from the SC would help women long term.”

The disturbing string of activity is revealed in federal prosecutors’ new filing ahead of Roske’s sentencing. Prosecutors have sought at least a 30-year prison term and used the extensive internet activity as evidence that Roske’s plans weren’t impulsive.

They also add chilling evidence to the emerging conversation about social media platforms and their role in encouraging assassins.

The slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has raised the same troubling questions. Authorities said Tyler Robinson, charged with the killing, bragged about it on Discord.

That sparked new interest in trying to lower the temperature of online platforms where hate and encouragement of political violence fester.

In testimony to Congress, FBI Director Kash Patel urged lawmakers to rewrite Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. For nearly three decades, the act has shielded computer services from liability for what people post on their platforms.

“We need to work on Section 230. It’s been too long since we’ve addressed it. Nobody’s being held accountable. They’re making money and our youth is dying,” Mr. Patel said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seemed eager to take up the call.

“It’s crazy what’s going on on the social media platforms,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Florida Democrat. “And so if we want to do something, then we should talk about Section 230.”

Mr. Patel said Mr. Robinson was part of a Discord chat where he talked about the killing. Discord said it hasn’t seen evidence that Mr. Robinson talked about his plans, but he did seem to admit to it afterward and posted about where he stashed the weapon.

In announcing Mr. Robinson’s arrest, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called social media “a cancer on our society” and said the gruesome images of Mr. Kirk’s slaying playing out on phone screens went too far.

“We are not wired as human beings. Biologically, historically, we have not evolved in a way that we are capable of processing those types of violent imagery,” he said. “I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass.”

Pressure to tackle Section 230 has been growing for years, but there is also plenty of resistance, given the law’s success in helping spawn the modern online world.

Edward J. Longe, director of the Center for Technology and Innovation at the James Madison Institute, suggested that using Mr. Kirk’s slaying to alter the law would run against what the superstar activist stood for.

“Charlie Kirk was a passionate defender of free speech throughout his career, and it’s difficult to imagine how he could have built his movement and reached millions of Americans without the protections that Section 230 provides,” Mr. Longe said.

“The best way to honor Charlie’s memory is to protect the very freedoms he championed and used so effectively, not to roll them back,” he said. “Weakening Section 230 would silence voices across the political spectrum and hand more power to government bureaucrats to decide what Americans can say online. That’s the opposite of what Charlie would have wanted.”

While testifying to Congress, Mr. Patel asked lawmakers for other “authorities” to persuade social media companies and “gaming platforms” to scour their sites and share worrying content with the FBI. He said a government agency has no way to keep watch.

“We need the assistance, and we need the authorities, and we need the private sector to double down,” he said.

In a new letter to the judge overseeing sentencing, Roske apologized for being part of the “trend of political violence.”

The letter blamed the COVID-19 pandemic emergency and a struggle with gender identity for creating suicidal thoughts that led to the aborted attempt on the justice’s life. Roske said the goal was to do something to make “significant change” in the world “before killing myself.”

“Once I actually arrived in his neighborhood, my whole perspective shifted. I had become so focused on the effects policy has on people that I forgot the judges and politicians making policy are real people too,” Roske wrote.

Roske added: “The thought that my actions may have inspired anyone else to act violently disgusts me and makes me feel extremely ashamed.”

Attorneys for Roske countered the government’s 30-year prison sentence request with a proposal for an eight-year term followed by 25 years of supervised release.

Although the attorneys said Roske started retreating into online video games before the incident, Roske’s letter is devoid of mentions of social media and internet searches.

However, the government’s court documents show deeply troubling behavior spanning multiple platforms.

Among Roske’s Google queries in the months leading up to June 2022 were: “How far into the neck is the trachea,” “how much force do you need to stab someone’s neck,” “does twisting or dragging a knife cause more damage” and “neck injury with highest mortality rate.”

Roske also pursued questions such as “does Iceland extradite to the U.S.” and “countries least likely to extradite to the U.S.”

On Reddit, Roske posted on May 17, 2022, asking: “Which Serial Killer was the most careful?” Roske then posted, wondering how “a killer who is obsessed with not leaving evidence” would operate. Roske characterized that query as helping with a writing project.

On Discord, Roske wrote: “What do you think would happen” if Justice Kavanaugh died, and responded to another response by saying “he would be replaced by an [expletive] Biden picks though, so probably someone who wouldn’t repeal Roe or gay marriage.”

Days later, Roske was back on Discord posting about trying to “remove some people from the Supreme Court.”

“I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come, and I am shooting for 3,” Roske wrote, adding in the conversation: “People have killed judges before.” That same day, Roske purchased a lock pick.

Three days after that, Roske posted to Reddit, again under the guise of a writing project, asking how difficult it would be to “covertly take out an HVT,” or a high-value target.

Four days before the incident, Roske visited 30 websites displaying head and neck wounds, including photos of shooting victims and one of a knife lodged in a person’s neck.

Roske, who has pleaded guilty to an assassination attempt, went to Justice Kavanaugh’s home at 1 a.m. on June 8, 2022. After spotting U.S. Marshals guarding the home, Roske apparently got cold feet and had a 20-minute phone call with a sister, then phoned police.

Roske reported traveling from California to kill a justice, had a gun in a suitcase and was having suicidal thoughts.

Local police arrived and arrested him. They reported finding in his gear a Glock 17 pistol, tactical vest, tactical knife, ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties and tools, including a crowbar.