A Philadelphia man has admitted to calling in a fake mass shooting and then a bomb threat in retaliation for a fantasy football feud, authorities said Wednesday.
Matthew Gabriel, 25, faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of a threat to injure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia said.
But Gabriel, a house painter, is more likely to receive 15 months of home confinement when he is sentenced in January, said the man’s attorney, Lonny Fish.
The lawyer says he is still stunned by his client’s actions.
“I don’t know what he was thinking,” Fish told NBC News on Thursday. “It was definitely not smart.”
Gabriel had “an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group” before the victim, a student at the University of Iowa, traveled to Norway on a study abroad program on August 3 last year.
The disgruntled fantasy player then made an online tip to the Norwegian police security service — the Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste (PST) — claiming that the foreign student was planning to commit a mass shooting.
“On August 15, a man named (the victim) is traveling to Oslo and plans a shooting spree involving several people at his side. They plan to take as many people as possible to a concert and then go to a department store,” Gabriel wrote, according to prosecutors.
“I don’t know anyone else, I just can’t have random people dying on my conscience. He plans to arrive unarmed, live normally for a few days and then carry out the attack. Please be prepared. He’s about 5’7″ tall and redheaded. He’s coming from America, on the 10th or 11th I think. He should have weapons with him. Please be careful.”
According to Fish, Norwegian authorities spent 900 man-hours investigating and debunking the threat.
On March 22 of this year, Gabriel, knowing he was being investigated for the Norway hoax, sent an email to the University of Iowa telling school officials that the same victim would detonate a bomb on campus, prosecutors said.
That email “contained a screenshot of the fantasy football group with a message that said, ‘Hello University of Iowa, a man named (victim) told me he was going to blow up the school,’” the U.S. attorney said.
“Gabriel knew that the victim would not blow up the university and that the message was sent as a joke by another member of the fantasy football group regarding Gabriel’s earlier threat,” prosecutors said.
“While already being prosecuted for a hoax threat fueled by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another one,” said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero. “His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations.”
Fish, the defense attorney, said he was grateful the government agreed to house arrest.
“Honestly, he’s very fortunate to have this opportunity,” Fish said. “Most people would go to jail. This is not the kind of thing you go to house arrest for. This is the kind of thing you (often) go to jail for.”
Court documents do not reveal the nature of Gabriel’s conflict with the University of Iowa student, and Fish would not provide those details.
“That guy (the victim) didn’t deserve it, I can tell you that,” Fish said. “He (Gabriel) apologized to the victim, very apologetic. He (Gabriel) was immature and he (the victim) didn’t deserve it. There was no justification for it.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
