Capitol Police Flagged Drone Threat to White House UFC Event a Month Before FBI Broke Up the Plot

A warning, then an arrest

Capitol Police intelligence analysts flagged the risk of a drone or sniper attack on a UFC event at the White House on May 20, according to documents obtained by Reason through a New Mexico public records request filed with a regional fusion center. The assessment warned that "high-ranking government officials" attending the nation's 250th anniversary events made "attractive targets for violent extremist attacks," and specifically cited "nefarious actors plotting to use weaponized drones" or gunmen firing from "high vantage points."

That warning came roughly a month before the actual event. The UFC Freedom 250 card was held on the White House South Lawn, timed to President Trump's 80th birthday and the country's 250th anniversary celebrations, according to CBS News. Thousands attended. Trump sat in the front row.

On June 16, the Justice Department announced it had disrupted a plot to attack that event. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel said law enforcement had identified a group of conspirators across multiple states who had procured weapons and were planning an assault, according to a Justice Department press release.

How it actually got broken up

The plot didn't unravel because of surveillance tied to the Capitol Police assessment or any drone-detection system. It unraveled because a mother called the police.

According to court filings cited by CBS News, federal investigators first learned of the scheme on June 10 after an Ohio woman contacted authorities about her 19-year-old son's suspicious firearms purchases and online communications. That son, Tycen Proper, was interviewed by the FBI at an Ohio medical facility on June 11, according to Fox 5 DC, and admitted to organizing with others through a TikTok group called "Vanguard of the Old" that formed in March before migrating to encrypted Signal chats to plan the attack.

Five men were initially charged: Proper of Ohio, Daniel Eskridge of Missouri, Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez of Nebraska, and Bryan Omar Roa and Michael Alan Thomas of California, according to CBS News. Reason reports the total has since grown to eight arrests nationwide, with two defendants pleading not guilty and others yet to enter pleas.

Court documents describe Alvarez, using the handle "Shepherd," as the alleged coordinator who drew tactical maps marking sniper coordinates and drone launch points around Washington, and who claimed to have built one functional drone while assembling explosive payloads, according to Fox 5 DC. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that agents seized weapons, thousands of rounds of ammunition and tactical gear during searches, but no drones were actually recovered. The drone element appeared to still be in the discussion and research phase, sources said. Court filings named a sprawling list of potential targets, including Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and members of West Virginia's congressional delegation, according to CBS News. The filings also cited the defendants' grievances involving U.S. support for Israel, handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and data centers.

The $600 million question

The administration has pointed to the alleged plot as justification for a roughly $600 million White House expansion that includes a ballroom project. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate told the D.C. Court of Appeals in a June 16 letter that the project "would support a highly sophisticated Drone Port and Sniper Nests atop the Ballroom that would destroy any effort to launch such an attack," as reported by Reason. That letter came in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation challenging the project. Reason notes that despite White House claims the project would be privately funded, roughly half the cost