A black man from New Jersey has been federally charged with threatening to mass murder white people in a genocide-scale shooting rampage. The would-be shooter wanted to "erase...all of them"—that is, eradicate the white race, according to the FBI.
23-year-old Joshua Cobb, a.k.a. "COBB X," of Trenton, was arrested Friday night for allegedly making terroristic threats against "all" white people, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release. He has not been charged with a hate crime.
Cobb's TikTok video
According to an 11-page criminal complaint, on December 17, 2022, Cobb posted the genocidal, anti-white threat to an unidentified social media platform ("SMP-1," which the investigating FBI agent described as a U.S. news aggregator and forum).
"I want to cause mayhem on the white community. The reason i specifically want to target white people is because as a black male, they will NEVER understand my struggles. Same way I will never understand their struggles, but I don't care to," Cobb allegedly wrote in the December 2022 post. "I want to erase them. All of them really, but in this case as many as I possibly can."
Having already acquired two out of four firearms he planned on using in a mass shooting, Cobb said he had "officially" started plotting his attack, which was supposed to take place last year somewhere in New Jersey on a date near a holiday that's "important" to white people. Cobb had a location in mind for the massacre that he frequented and knew the entry/exit points to.
"I am certain nobody there is armed to be able to stop me from spraying them to the ground," Cobb remarked.
DOJ criminal complaint | United States v. Cobb
Per the probable cause statements, between February and May 2023, under the username "1dayUsuffer," Cobb sent a series of messages on another social media application ("SMP-2," which was previously part of "SMP-1," but the offshoot was banned and became an independent forum for uploading gore-themed content depicting real-life deaths, such as workplace accidents, vehicular manslaughter, shootings, suicides, and slayings). There, Cobb ruminated over committing acts of violence:
- March 15, 2023 — "Ahhh cmon, imagine the rush you'd feel while shooting some s**t up. Probably could get literally high off the adrenaline alone. I'd probably OD [overdose] on my own adrenaline after the 10th body goes down."
- May 29, 2023
- "F**k those animals [cats]. My favorite weapon to kill them with is my crossbow. I use broadhead tips and send it straight to through their brains. Last cat I got hit him/her right in the eye and that s**t was on the floor. Very bloody scene and I loved it. I dont take pictures with my phone but the images remain in my brain."
- "No documented history but I definitely have problems but I refuse to get evaluated because I will lose my firearms license here in America. Not to mention, pretty much every single person in my family tree clearly shows signs of multiple different mental illnesses & I had 3 aunts who were diagnosed Schizophrenics, so do as you will with that information. 3: That and the adrenaline rush is nice because I'm a depressed lonely piece of s**t loser with nothing to live for so watching people get f**king MERKED [killed] gives me some excitement. 4: 100% someday. Just not yet though. I want to continue training and buying more ammunition."
- "Tbh [to be honest] I hope I do progress into a serial killer because I f**king hate life man...But one day everyone will suffer. I promise I will make everyone feel my f**king pain. My deep, sincere, raw, & sharp pain."
- "Nobody wahts [sic] too acknowledge that us young men in America have so many obstacles stacked against us we cannot excel no matter how hard we try. Especially those like myself who are BLACK & come from poverty. There is no way out for me. The only way out is bloodshed. Thats success in @1dayUsuffer's eyes."
- "Just wait man. Remember @1dayUsuffer's username. @1dayUsuffer will leave clues when im done."
- "I'm just leaving evidence for whoever investigates my case."
On April 3, 2024, law enforcement seized Cobb's iPhone, discovering on the device several entries saved in the Notes app, dated between March and April 2023, which he signed, "1DayUSuffer." (Bolded sections added for emphasis):
March 16, 2023 — Life is nothing and it is meaningless...I f**king hate all of you soft a** f**king people. You are all so f**king fake. You all try to play the part and confide to this stupid a** game. Who can be the fakest? I see it all day long. Fake interactions people putting on their fake happy voices when they know deeep inside they are screaming...Why not be true and let the scream out? Why hide it? Its all a f**king game and you are all going to die. I currently lack the means necessary to kill as many as I intend to but one day I will have the available resources (finance) to purchase the appropriate weaponry for my killings.
All my life I have been doubyed [sic]…Ive been taken as the joke…Ive been f**ked around with…well now its my turn. I am going to kill [every] one of you motherf**kers I f**king hate humanity. All of you f**king duck [sic] and I don’t give a single f**k about any of you though I may appear I do. People ACT like they care for you. All of their care is conditional. The moment you do one thing against their conditions they no longer care...so the question becomes. [D]id they care in the first place? Here Ill answer that for you...NO.
Its all f**king fake and and I am sick of it. Im ready to get to the good part of my story where I start taking you motherf**kers out and killing you all. Ive been doomed to a life of lies and darkness I may as well see it through. This is my 2nd of many writings to come. Once all equipment is in, time will then tell. You all will die.
March 20, 2023 — For all my life, all that I can remember I've been the outcast. Ive been ignored. Ive been left out. Ive been forgotten. Ive been excluded.
As of recent I have begun to accept this dark reality for myself.
Nobody wants or appreciates my company. And that is okay with me. I will want and appreciate my own company.
I no longer seek the companionships of other humans. There comes a point where you realize you just literally do not matter to other (certain) people. I hate all of this s**t and I feel like my only way out of the pain and suffering is by exploding. So I await…I await that moment so I can make those moments final. For whomever…myself or a victim.
In an April 18, 2023, note, Cobb also detailed step-by-step instructions on "How to bring firearms into New Jersey" by purchasing a P.O. box at the nearest shipping destination in Pennsylvania and ensuring a firearms website will ship to the P.O. box address.
"This method actually works & can be done even easier through [A]mazon," Cobb wrote.
Cobb, a U.S. Marine, joined in 2023 and began basic training that summer. This year, Cobb was stationed at the Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, the largest base of the U.S. Marine Corps, until he was recently discharged.
Cobb in the U.S. Marine Corps | TikTok
Following the search-and-seizure operation, FBI agents interrogated Cobbs at the Marines base. After admitting to authoring the aforementioned posts, Cobb said he still had homicidal ideations and harbored feelings of contempt towards those whom he perceived as privileged white people in New Jersey. Cobb also revealed the locations he chose as potential targets for his now-thwarted attack, disclosing entry and exit plans based on research and surveillance he conducted: a Jersey Strong gym and an Aldi grocery store in Robbinsville, a "rich white area" where "all these f**king rich a** white people" shop.
Cobb at the gym | TikTok
Excerpts from the FBI interview | United States v. Cobb
During further FBI questioning, Cobb idolized mass murderers like Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz, with whom he "felt a connection" and "felt his pain," and Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron, a white supremacist who slaughtered 10 black victims in a racially motivated shooting spree. Cobb said he "liked his [Gendron's] attack, liked the element of surprise and style."
Cobb additionally discussed what access he had to firearms.
Previously on "SMP-2," Cobb critiqued federal gun laws, saying it's easier for a felon to get a gun than it is for a law-abiding citizen: "My [relative] just got out of prison for heroin charges and firearm charges yet he already has 3 pistols again."
"Specifically, my boy...he got a lot of guns," Cobb told the FBI. "He got access to guns. It's no secret guns are in bad areas and he knows a lot of people...through him, really. He gave me a couple, actually. I don't have them to this day. I got rid of that s**t."
However, he noted that he had a family member who legally owned firearms. "So I had access to guns, to this day, I do."
Cobb also talked about knowing someone who could print 3D gun parts to assemble a "homemade" handgun: "[He] knew how to like 3D print s**t. He would make a f**king—it would not take long. He could literally make a frame for any pistol, any gun you can imagine. He'd make a frame for it, and all you'd have to do is f**king put the parts. You could buy the parts. You don't need a license for it. You can buy it piece by piece, and then just literally assemble a homemade gun, so I had a few like that."
Upon being informed that the FBI was confiscating his cell phone, Cobb became irate and retorted: "These are the things that make someone want to do the things we talked about." According to the FBI affidavit, Cobb also expressed "extreme anger" about his circumstances to another Marine, stating something to the effect of: "This is why people like me shoot people."
Federal authorities were able to trace Cobb's various IP addresses and Gmail accounts to his TikTok page, "COBB X," where he has amassed over half a million likes and nearly 50,000 followers. Through TikTok, Cobb routinely offers "daily inspiration" and advice on morality, manhood, and "wellness with Cobb," often quoting himself off of his Twitter/X profile, "@CobbXquotes."
Much of the filming is set inside a commercial gym.
Cobb's posts on X, formerly Twitter
On Facebook, Cobb offers his services as a fitness trainer. Beneath an iteration of his professionally designed logo of a black man sporting a Spartan helmet, Cobb's tagline reads: "Helping Create a Better You." His Facebook bio says he encourages "peaceful living by supporting you both inside and outside of the gym through the use of education, inspiration, & motivation."
Cobb's TikTok page
The FBI Newark's Joint Terrorism Task Force was credited with spearheading the investigation that led to Cobb's arrest.
Cobb has been charged with one count of knowingly transmitting in interstate and foreign commerce communications containing a threat to injure the persons of another, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison plus a $250,000 fine, if convicted.
Cobb appeared Monday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Trenton. Following the 15-minute court appearance, after his request for pre-trial release was denied, Cobb was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals. According to U.S. District Court records reviewed by Townhall, Cobb is detained without bail pending a bail hearing scheduled for Friday at 12:30 p.m.
Cobb is currently being held at Monmouth County jail on federal hold, inmate records show. "It is the policy of the Monmouth County Correctional Institution to not provide booking photos," a public information officer for the sheriff's office told Townhall.
In the interim, the court has granted Cobb a continuance, a 90-day period lasting through August 11, permitting the prosecution and the defense "to attempt to resolve this case prior to indictment and thereby avoid trial," thus "serving the ends of justice."
"The charges in this case result from a lengthy investigation, and the pre-indictment discovery the United States is voluntarily providing the defendant involves documents and interview statements that defense counsel requires adequate time to review," U.S. Magistrate Judge Rukhsanah Singh ordered, ruling that the case's circumstances warrant "additional time for effective preparation and/or to enter plea negotiations, which would render grand jury proceedings and a trial in this matter unnecessary."
A court-appointed public defender is representing Cobb due to his "financial inability" to retain private counsel.
"1st Marine Division is aware of the arrest of Joshua Cobb by civilian authorities in New Jersey," a spokesperson for Cobb's last unit, 2nd Lt. Giselle Cancino, told Military.com. Cancino confirmed that he served until May 10, 2024, the day of his arrest, and attended the School of Infantry-East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was a rifleman with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, and separated from the military as a private first class. "Cobb received a certificate of commendation, but no personal military devices, nor did he deploy during his brief time in service," Cancino said, but she did not specify why he was separated.