NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For as long as he can remember, Gunner Joseph Fisher, 18, has thought about mass murder.
“When I was a f**king child, before I even got into school, I saw crowds of people and (fantasized) about someone mowing them down.”
Driven by a hatred of Jews, African Americans and Muslims, Fisher believed he was “bound to murder.”
And like other mass shooters he admired, the young man had posed for a photo with a long gun of some sort, prepared a testimonial video and had begun work on his manifesto.
It was just a question of when, where and how his pent-up rage would finally explode.
“I’m like a bomb.”
Perhaps, he would commit his heinous crime inside his school, not only with guns, but with explosives.
“My entire school is gonna be wiped off of the face (of) this EARTH.”
Then, he got the idea to attack a furry convention.
“Now my life is going to end with me dead next to a bunch of f**gs in fur suits.”
In early December, thanks to his admiration for a notorious mass murderer, Fisher came up with a new target.
“I changed to a mosque like Brenton.”
Brenton Tarrant was the mass murderer who slaughtered 51 innocent Muslims and injured 89 others in his 2019 attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand,
Fisher chose a mosque located in Nashville.
Luckily, he would never get the chance to carry out his horrific plan.
Just before Christmas last year, FBI agents arrested the Stewart County teen on charges of communicating a threat to commit mass violence. He has since been indicted by a federal grand jury and is now asking to be released from custody.
There was no big announcement of Fisher’s arrest, only an obscure website — Court Watch — that tracks court cases picked up the news.
While few saw the story, it was noticed by Solomon Henderson, the 17-year-old Antioch High School shooter who shot two fellow students last week, killing one before turning his gun on himself. Henderson posted a link in his online diary.
“N***a was in my area lol,” Henderson noted, including the photo that Fisher had taken of himself posing with his weapon.
There is no evidence suggesting Henderson and Fisher knew each other.
Still, the little-noticed details of the Fisher case — as recounted in an affidavit filed in federal court by FBI Special Agent Christopher R. Potts — are disturbing by themselves.
According to that affidavit, the investigation began when Meta Platforms tipped off the FBI about an Instagram account that was “sending messages to another user that he or she was planning to conduct a mass shooting.”
Agent Potts traced that Instagram account to Gunner Fisher.
“Fisher also created content where he indicated that he had purchased multiple weapons, including an AR-15, extended magazines for the AR-15, a rifle scope and a Saiga-12 shotgun,” Potts wrote.
The young man “posted pictures of firearms and other weapons which he claimed to have in his possession, including a machete and tactical vest.”
“Fisher also posted that he was suicidal and violent,” the agent added.
In a chat on June 16, 2024, Fisher posted: “I’m gonna go on a spree this year probaly (sic).”
On Dec. 14, 2024, FBI agents questioned the suspect at his home where he resided with his parents in Big Rock, Tennessee — about 75 miles northeast of Nashville.
Fisher told them that he “had a fascination with previous school shootings and mass shootings” and “really enjoyed watching videos and recordings” where such attacks were live-streamed by the shooters.
Agents searched Fisher’s phone and found a video in which he identified himself, expressing his disdain for Jews and “sand n****rs.”
“And I, Gunner Joseph Fisher, am going to take care of them both,” he promised.
Investigators also discovered text messages between Fisher and a person outside of Tennessee in which they discussed “planning and conducting future mass shooting attacks.”
“I’m doing mine a bit early lmao,” Fisher texted, apparently referencing 2025 as a target date. “I can’t wait tbh…. I’m too impatient to wait…. I’ve been planning for five years.”
He also texted about going “Lanza style” — an apparent reference to Adam Lanza, 20, who committed the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.
“I’m going after blacks,” one text reportedly read.
And Fisher had a question for his friend who was also planning an attack.
"Are you going to mention my attack on your manifesto?”
As their investigation continued, FBI agents recovered an apparent manifesto that Fisher himself had been keeping and had last saved on Nov. 29.
“Once school starts again, another Christchurch will happen,” the document reads. “None of you n****rs are gonna see it coming. My bombs are actually gonna work…. My entire school is gonna be wiped off of the face (of) this EARTH. It’s gonna be AWESOME.”
Fisher claimed that he had his hunting rifle and “hundreds of rounds of live ammunition, as well as a copious amount of gunpowder which I’m gonna assemble into bombs."
"I’ll plant them all over the n****rzone, and that piece of sh*t horrible building will become nothing but rubble,” he wrote.
“If anybody survives? Shoot them. Anybody escapes? Oh well, they were destined to get out of there. F**king NATURAL SELECTION.”
His message to Black students: “OUTRUN. MY. F**KING. GUN.”
Then, according to Agent Potts, Fisher texted his out-of-state contact on Dec. 4 that he had changed his target to the Nashville mosque.
Federal prosecutors have asked to hold Fisher without bond, arguing "the Court can have no confidence that any set of conditions will assure the safety of the community.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara D. Holmes continued a detention hearing to allow the defense "to present additional evidence to mitigate against the danger to the community posed by his release," including his mental health diagnoses, prognosis and treatment.
Fisher appeared in federal court Tuesday morning with his attorney.
Wearing a jail-issued jumpsuit, Fisher sat quietly beside his attorney, except when the judge asked questions like, "Do you understand the charges against you?"
Fisher leaned forward towards the court microphone in front of him on the desk and replied confidently and strongly, "Yes, ma'am."
Fisher's attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf to the two charges against him, both of which involve communicating threats to harm others between late November and early December. Each of the counts carries a maximum of five years behind bars and a $250,000 fine.
The hearing was also expected to cover Fisher's possible release pending his trial. But, his attorney notified the judge at the beginning of the hearing that she needed more time to collect documents and work out details that she would present during that detention hearing.
The judge agreed to allow Fisher's attorney to request a new hearing date when she is prepared.
Fisher's parents were in court for the hearing and sat in the first row of seats. After the hearing, they watched as a court officer put handcuffs on their son and led him out of the courtroom. As they left the courthouse, the couple said they did not wish to comment on the case.
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