This incel is now locked in a cell.
A self-proclaimed “involuntary celibate” YouTuber, who previously grabbed headlines for climbing the Queensboro Bridge, was arrested Wednesday for making a bomb threat at a Manhattan restaurant, authorities said.
Malik Sanchez, known online as “Smooth Sanchez,” walked into an outdoor dining area in Flatiron on Feb. 13 and announced the hoax threat, prosecutors said. He posted the entire prank online.
“Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Bomb detonation in two, in two minutes. I take you with me and I kill all you. I kill all you right now. And I kill all you for Allah. F–k, f–k that s–t. I’m gonna Allah. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna f—–g do it for Allah. I’m gonna do it, for, Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar, Come on. I do it, bomb now, bomb now,” he said.
Customers grabbed their belongings and ran. At least one person called 911, though Sanchez had left the scene by the time police arrived, court papers said.
“Holy s–t. Holy s–t boys. That was f—–g five stars. That was five stars,” Sanchez said, according to the complaint.
Sanchez, 19, self-identifies as an incel, derived from the phrase “involuntary celibate.” Incels are mostly men who gather in online forums to wallow in their misery and target women they believe aren’t paying them adequate attention.
Incels have been responsible for at least five deadly attacks in the United States and Canada since 2014, resulting in 28 deaths, the complaint noted.
“As alleged, Malik Sanchez perpetrated a hoax bomb threat at a Manhattan restaurant that frightened innocent victims, sowed chaos, and diverted precious law enforcement resources,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said.
Sanchez’s YouTube channel features livestreamed videos of him harassing women and being a pest toward everyone who crosses his path. In recent videos, he mocked the use of masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus as commenters goaded him on, at times even giving him donations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaylan Lasky said Sanchez sprayed approximately five people in the past six months with pepper spray. He has pending charges for three pepper spray incidents, and the feds say they know of at least two others.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for scaling the Queensboro Bridge, which he livestreamed last year.
A search of the Alphabet City apartment that Sanchez shares with his mother, uncle and grandmother uncovered five magazines for a Glock — but not the gun itself, Lasky said during a Wednesday hearing.
Federal Defender Clay Kaminsky argued Sanchez was “an attention-seeking 19-year-old” in need of help, and was being egged on by followers of the incel internet subculture. He claimed that some of the confrontations on Sanchez’s hourslong livestreams were scripted.
But Magistrate Judge Ona Wang ordered Sanchez be held without bail, arguing he was a danger to the community.
“Such conduct may in fact be escalating,” Wang said of Sanchez’s creepy pranks.
Sanchez faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
