TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A recruit for the Florida State Guard — a civilian military force under Gov. Ron DeSantis' control — was removed from a Jacksonville training facility and sent to a hospital for a mental health evaluation in February after he reportedly told others he wanted to kill Jews and Palestinians and “blow up” a military base.
The recruit, a 23-year-old from Fleming Island, was two weeks into a monthlong training camp to join the State Guard when two people training alongside him reported him for making threatening comments, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report obtained by the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times.
In one instance, a witness told deputies he overheard the recruit say he wanted to “get a U-Haul and fill it (with) fertilizer and ammonium nitrate and blow up the base.” Another witness told deputies he also said he wanted to kill “Jews, (Palestinians), and that they all need to be annihilated,” the report states. The Herald/Times is not naming him because law enforcement categorized the incident as a mental health case.
The incident — the second time that sheriff's deputies detained a recruit from the same February class training to join the State Guard– exposes gaps in the organization's vetting process as DeSantis tries to quickly grow a force that he can deploy to respond to state emergencies.
According to the police report, the recruit told deputies he had been discharged from the Marine Corps…
