A 21-year-old woman accused of plotting a mass school shooting with a 19-year-old man has been denied bail and ordered held until trial after the FBI flagged “concerning” Instagram messages
A 21-year-old woman accused of planning a mass school shooting has been ordered to stay behind bars after the FBI flagged what it called “concerning” Instagram messages.
Katherine Grace Joiner, from Wilsonville in Shelby County, Alabama, USA, is accused alongside 19-year-old Ethan Chance Bassett, from Glen, Mississippi, in a case investigators say was a tightly coordinated plot involving talk of attacking a school and then taking their own lives.
A federal magistrate judge reportedly ordered Joiner to be held in custody until trial, and found there was probable cause to support a charge of transmitting threatening communications in across US state lines. The judge, John H. England III, also reportedly ruled that bail should be refused.
US investigators reportedly say the plot unravelled after the FBI flagged a string of Instagram messages on May 18 and sent an “emergency disclosure request” to Meta to access the accounts. Agents reportedly said the chats referred to violence, gun access, the glorification of school shooters and alleged plans for a mass attack.
Federal records also allege Joiner’s posts – under the username “kissmyxm15” – showed a fixation with infamous mass killings, with content shared between February and May 2026 said to idolise perpetrators linked to Columbine, Sandy Hook and the Isla Vista attacks, WSFA reported. In one message on May 12, 2026, she allegedly wrote, according to AL.com : “I haven’t really made a plan but killing people and then myself has been on my mind for a while I wouldn’t mind doing it with you.”
Agents later visited Joiner’s home the same day and she admitted sending the messages and discussing violence at a school with Bassett, who was arrested in Mississippi, as per WSFA. Court papers cited by WSFA say Bassett remarked on arrest: “It was probably for the best”, adding it was “because of things he had said on Instagram”.
Joiner was taken to Baptist Health Shelby Hospital for treatment and was arrested by the FBI on May 28 after her release, according WSFA. Prosecutors also pointed to photographs from inside her bedroom showing bloody decals and gore stickers, including “bloody footprints and skulls”, as well as a “bloody axe and pliers”, with agents also photographing a rifle in the basement she had discussed accessing.
Joiner reportedly told investigators she was involved in an online “TCC” or “True Crime Committee” group across Instagram, TikTok, Discord and PlayStation chats. She also described mental health struggles and allegedly told agents she “did not view people as people”, but as “faces”, with prosecutors saying she spoke of a plan to sneak out, take weapons, meet Bassett, shoot people inside a school and then kill herself.
Refusing bail, Judge John H. England III wrote: “The Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.”
Bassett remains in pretrial detention in Mississippi.
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