Columbus, Ohio, Tycen Proper, 19, Charged After FBI Uncovers Plan to Bomb White House Fight Night

A 19-year-old Ohio man is behind bars after federal authorities say he was part of a group that plotted a deadly attack on the UFC cage-fighting event held on the White House South Lawn last weekend.

Tycen Proper, of Ohio, now faces serious federal charges including firearms offenses and attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States, following his arrest as part of a sweeping multi-state FBI operation.

The attack, which authorities say was designed to “jumpstart” a revolution in the United States, was stopped before it could be carried out.

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The plan called for explosive-laden drones to be detonated over the north side of the White House, sending panicked crowd members fleeing into the line of fire of waiting snipers. President Donald Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the event on Sunday, June 15, was among the intended primary targets, along with Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk.

The operation came together quickly after the FBI was alerted to the threat on June 10, just four days before UFC Freedom 250 took place on the White House lawn. Five people were arrested across multiple states including Ohio, Missouri, California and Nebraska.

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The first crack in the plot came not from surveillance or intelligence gathering, but from a concerned mother. Proper’s family grew alarmed after noticing he had been buying firearms and spending an unusual amount of time communicating with an online group.

When Proper told his family that he intended to travel to meet up with the group the weekend of the event, they called local law enforcement. A search warrant was then executed at his home on June 11, and investigators seized his electronic devices.

What they found on those devices laid out a chilling picture. Proper had been in contact with a group on TikTok called “Vanguard of the Old,” which began forming last March.

The group believed the United States was heading in the wrong direction and needed to be torn down so it could be rebuilt. Communications later moved to Signal, an encrypted messaging app, where more detailed planning took place among roughly 19 individuals across multiple side chats. Members shared maps of the White House area, discussed a safe house and escape routes, and debated sniper positions.

Proper admitted in an interview with law enforcement that he had taken part in planning the attack. He said he had intended to drive to a meet-up spot in Fredericksburg, Virginia, bringing weapons and body armor. While he told investigators he did not personally plan to shoot anyone at the event, he acknowledged others in the group did.

Federal prosecutors in Nebraska separately charged Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, an Omaha resident they describe as the primary organizer of the plot and who went by the name “Shepherd” online. Alvarez allegedly directed sniper placement, drone construction and escape logistics, and identified an abandoned Methodist church in Western, Nebraska, as a fallback location after the attack.

Proper made his initial court appearance Monday in Columbus, Ohio, and faces a detention hearing on Wednesday. FBI Director Kash Patel credited rapid coordination between the bureau, its partners and the Department of Justice for stopping the attack before anyone was harmed.