Man accused of revenge plot against SLO County elected official said his ‘purpose was to kill’
Editor’s note: This story mentions suicide.
The Missouri man who allegedly threatened to bomb a SLO County school, killing at least 400 people — mostly children — and murder a San Luis Obispo County elected official told investigators he was homicidal for at least one year and believed “his purpose is to kill as many people as possible,” court documents filed Monday show.
David William Platek, 41, of Springfield, Missouri, was charged with interstate criminal threats by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is alleged to have texted several “true threats” to someone in December with the intent to kill and harm an elected official and other members of the public in San Luis Obispo County.
U.S. District Court Judge Alka Sagar ruled on Wednesday that Platek will remain in federal custody without bail. He was arrested on Jan. 24 and is in federal custody at Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, according to federal court records
Court documents state Platek sent “detailed and explicit threats” to injure and kill an elected official in retaliation for being charged with identity theft in a case that was subsequently dropped.
Platek was previously charged with felony identity theft in 2019 for posing as SLO County political activist Kevin P. Rice on Facebook. Those charges, which were filed by the SLO County District Attorney’s Office, were eventually dismissed for furtherance of justice, meaning a judge found that there was reasonable ground to dismiss the charge.
Platek’s communications included detailed plans to “commit a mass casualty event,” like a school shooting or suicide bombing, and claimed he had the ammunition to carry out his threats and only needed to rent a truck to drive to California, court documents said.
Judge finds defendant a danger to community
According to court documents filed Monday, a judge ruled Platek was a danger to the community if released on bail.
Platek reportedly admitted to investigators that “he has been homicidal for one year and suicidal for three years, almost shot somebody because he was angry, cannot trust himself, and his purpose is to kill as many people as possible, including innocent community members,” court documents said.
He also said he had the ability to scrub his devices to evade detection and changed his location to make it appear he was in California when he wasn’t, according to court documents.
The judge also cited the seriousness of the allegations in his decision.
Platek is accused of sending “detailed and explicit death threats targeting the victim, including in front of the victim’s children, a plan to kill the students at the school attended by the victim’s children, a plan to perpetuate mass killings through the use of explosives, (and) a plan to obtain the material for the explosives.” He also compared himself “favorably” to the Uvalde school shooter and Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Platek has a history of foreign travel, including recent travel and residence in Ukraine and Romania, and does not have community or family ties in Missouri, where he has lived for the past 10 months, or California.
Sagar’s ruling states Platek should be housed in a corrections facility “separate to the extent possible” from inmates waiting for or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal.
Court documents show Platek argued the government was not entitled to a detention hearing based on his possible danger to the community and could only argue as to whether he was a flight risk, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office argued “no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the defendant and the safety of any other person in the community.”
The judge ultimately agreed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, court documents show.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 988. You can also call the Central Coast Hotline at 800-783-0607 for 24-7 assistance. To learn the warning signs of suicide, visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM.
