Background: Fort Irwin, California (Google Maps). Inset: Christian Beyer booking photo (via Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Christian Beyer (Facebook).
A U.S. Army veteran previously court-martialed for assault and who later posted a video on YouTube vowing “vengeance” for that court-martial by killing members of the military and their families at Fort Irwin in California has pleaded guilty to sending interstate threats.
Christian Ernest Beyer, 42, once stationed at Fort Irwin, was arrested and charged in November and has been detained ever since, according to the Justice Department.
In a statement on June 28, federal prosecutors said “Mr. Beyer sought to take his personal vengeance out on innocent military members honorably serving their country, as well as their families” when in October 2023 he published a three-minute video online targeting four individuals, including a military officer and chief of police at Fort Irwin, and their families and others he deemed responsible for his court-martial two years before.
“I had a great life and will die for what I believe in. If you come to get me and you have a uniform on you’re enemy and I will not look at you as anything else,” Beyer said in one video, court records show.
He faces up to five years in prison when sentenced, up to three years of supervised release, and a possible fine of up to $250,000. He will be sentenced on September 20.
