Teen Gets 11 Years for Neo-Nazi Videos That Inspired Racist Buffalo Mass Shooting

A U.K. teenager has been sentenced to 11 and a half years behind bars for creating racist content that was heavily referenced by the neo-Nazi who live-streamed himself murdering Black people in a Buffalo grocery store.  

Daniel John Harris, 19, will spend the next decade behind bars for creating neo-Nazi video propaganda that pushed for terrorism. Harris and his work were referenced at least seven times by the shooter who live-streamed himself murdering ten people during a mass shooting at a grocery store in May 2022. It was also alleged that the man who shot up a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five and injuring 17, consumed them.

Harris was arrested on May 16, 2022, two days after the Buffalo attack, and was found guilty in December. He was sentenced late last week. It’s further evidence of the transnational and deadly nature of the modern white supremacy movement and how difficult it can be for law enforcement. 

Harris' videos were directly referenced by the Buffalo mass murderer in the lengthy diary he kept in the days leading up to the mass shooting. At one point in the shooter's online diary, he wrote “Shout out to (Harris’ online name,) thank you for your service.” 

Authorities said Harris knew the deadly impact he was having. 

“The threat he posed became such that we had to act in order to ensure the safety of the wider public. The reference to one of his videos in the prelude to the Buffalo attack is a case in point," said Counter-Terrorism Detective Inspector Chris Brett. “Harris could see the reaction his videos were getting. This was not a one-off, this was not a game, this was a concerted effort to generate a following and influence people.”

Police alleged that Harris also tried to use a 3D printer to print parts in a “crude attempt” to create a handgun.

Experts have long been sounding the alarm of an international network of propagandists attempting to radicalize and push people into action.  

“Harris’ arrest shows the international nature of the violent online extreme right, especially the subset of individuals who glorify attackers such as the Christchurch terrorist,” Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst on the far-right at the Counter-Extremism Project, told VICE News. “While many of these individuals are concerned with committing attacks in their area, they are also part of this online community that seeks to encourage violence in other locations in the name of white supremacism.”  

Fisher-Birch told VICE News there have been similar cases of online propagandists being arrested and charged for their work trying to inspire far-right extremists worldwide. For example, in November 2022, a Slovakian man was sentenced to six years for his involvement in terrorism and was, as Fisher-Birch puts it, “an important player within the international neo-Nazi accelerationist online community and spread information helpful in committing terrorist attacks.” Neo-Nazi terror groups like The Base and Atomwaffen have had members belonging to cells located in North America, Europe, Scandinavia, and Australia.    

“The issue is that around the globe, there are individuals who subscribe to the same or similar conspiracy theories and ideologies and feel they have the same group of enemies and either want to take violent action against them or encourage or facilitate others to do so,” said Fisher-Birch.

Remnants of Harris’ online footprint can still be found, many of his videos remain available on video streaming platforms that trumpet lax moderation as a selling point. Videos he created include a feature film-length video celebrating the Christchurch shooter, as well as anti-vaccine and COVID conspiracy videos. The final video he made celebrated the Buffalo killings. An account associated with the Buffalo shooter on a neo-Nazi video platform only liked one video and it was one where Harris explicitly called for killings of "subhumans."

During sentencing, the judge overseeing the case described Harris as a “highly dangerous” young man who created “vile” work, and that “what (the killers) did was no more than what you intended others to do.” 

"You intended to encourage terrorism, and it's plain that what was being encouraged was lethal, racist, and antisemitic violence, as well as violence against the gay community,” said Judge Patrick Field KC, according to the BBC. 

 Police in the United Kingdom have been aggressively investigating and charging online neo-Nazis connected to networks such as the one described above. Many of the young men, like Harris, have been teenagers, a trend that was recently described by some experts as “extremely alarming.” Brett said it’s “no secret that across the country we are seeing more and more young people hitting the radar of counter-terrorism police, especially those who are displaying extreme right-wing views.” 

“Not only did he create and share offensive posts and videos, but he also tried (and failed) to make a gun,” said Brett. “While not all individuals have the means to act upon their words, in the online space, they can easily spread to inspire others who do.”