Daytona Beach, Florida — A Daytona Beach man has been charged with making threats to commit a mass shooting after the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to text messages in which the suspect detailed plans to shoot as many people as he could in a large crowd.
Tristan Scott Wix, 25, at Botefuhr Avenue, Daytona Beach, was arrested Friday after sending several concerning text messages.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office provided Citrus Gazette with some of those texts.
- “A school is a weak target.. id be more likely to open fire on a large crowd of people from over 3 miles away.. I’d wanna break a world record for longest confirmed kill ever.”
- “I wanna open fire on a large crowd of people from over 3 miles away before I die and I need a spotter (laughing cry face emoji)”
- “What you wanna do after the fact, is your own business, if you want to plan to escape we can work on that. But I don’t intend on walking away alive, unless I see it fit.”
- “But a good 100 kills would be nice. I already have a location (laughing cry face emoji) is that bad?”
- “Ah well even if you told someone, me saying I wanna do it and think about it is not the same as actually doing it lol. Was kinda hoping someone would come into my life worth not doing it for, for the sake of all those people (laughing cry face emoji). I’m not crazy I just wanna die and I wanna have fun doing it, but I’m the most patient person in the world.”
Sheriff’s detectives and members of the Volusia County Crime Center worked with members of the New Smyrna Beach Police Department, Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to track down Wix.
He was located in a Winn-Dixie parking lot in Daytona Beach Shores.
Wix was taken into custody by Shores officers and the Volusia County sheriff’s detectives transported him to the Volusia Sheriff’s Operations Center for an interview.
Wix told detectives he does not own any firearms but is “fascinated with mass shootings.”
Sheriff’s detectives are in the process of obtaining a search warrant for Wix’s residence.
Wix was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail, where he’s being held without bond.
Investigators said Wix does not claim to be a white supremacist or be politically motivated.
Wix is simply fixated on shooting people.
Information on this investigation is still coming in.