L.A. man's violent, antisemitic texts made woman fear for her life, prosecutor says
He threatened to "exterminate" Jewish people and Asian Americans. He said he would shoot up synagogues. He said that "Hitler was right about you people."
Over the course of more than a year, Andre Lackner targeted a Jewish woman with antisemitic, anti-Asian texts such as these, threatening both her and her family, according to court documents obtained by The Times.
The Northridge man has admitted to spewing hate through text messages and pleaded guilty Monday in the Central District Court of California to one federal charge of stalking. He is facing a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Court documents state Lackner had a history of threatening mass shootings at schools, cruise ships and at the Coachella music festival, all documented by the FBI. He was previously arrested on suspicion of threatening to harm another person.
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In 2017, he called his former Venice High School teacher and threatened to kill her and her family — the teacher had not heard from Lackner since he graduated in 2006. Four days later, he showed up at the park where she was walking her dog, according to court documents.
The woman he texted was someone he had briefly dated in 2007 and with whom he had remained on friendly terms, the documents say. Lackner sent the messages sporadically between June 2021 and October 2022.
The messages began with him telling the victim that he would harm himself and others. Upon receiving those, she replied by encouraging him to seek help and indicated that, if she received any more such messages, she would report Lackner "out of concern for [his] safety and the safety of those around him."
In August 2021, the victim rejected Lackner's request to meet in person. The racist, violent texts continued, although the woman no longer replied.
She reported the messages to the San Diego Police Department in January 2022 and blocked Lackner's phone number. The texts, however, continued to arrive on her laptop via iMessage.
The victim finally reported Lackner to the FBI after Lackner sent her an email that ended with, "I will make sure I kill a Jew before I leave this earth."
The woman told the bureau, "I am extremely concerned that he will follow through with one of his threats."
The text messages caused the victim to be in "reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury to herself or one of her immediate family members," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In a statement, U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said his office would remain steadfast in standing up to hate.
"We must hold accountable those like this defendant who make vile, anti-Semitic, and racist threats that put victims in fear for their lives," he said. "I applaud law enforcement for acting decisively to intervene and protect the victim.”
Lackner's public defender, Lisa LaBarre, declined to make a statement to The Times because she said her client's case was ongoing.
In court proceedings last year, Lackner blamed his behavior on mental illness. Court documents state Lackner has been diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder.
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According to court documents, Lackner's father told pretrial services that he believed his son "was a danger to the community and should be detained."
U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer scheduled a June 3 sentencing hearing.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
