As aviator Jack Teixeira sped home in a red pickup—expecting the FBI to be on his trail—he delivered a final message.
“Guys, it’s been good. I love you all,” he told the close-knit group of teenagers and young men with whom he is accused of sharing classified military documents.
“I never wanted it to be like this. I prayed to God that this would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. Only God can decide what happens from now on,” he said, according to a group member who spoke to the New York Times.
Teixeira was arrested Thursday from his home in North Dighton, Massachusetts, and will face charges under the 1917 Espionage Act.
Details that have since emerged paint a picture of 21-year-old Teixeira as a God-fearing Christian with an inherited sense of duty to serve in the country’s armed forces.
Jack Teixeira, 21, who was arrested Thursday for leaking classified US intelligence, is said to have been fascinated by the armed forces, according to his colleagues. He served in the same wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard as his stepfather
Teixeira’s stepfather, Master Sgt. Thomas P. Dufault (pictured center), ended his 34-year military career with a ceremony in 2019 at Joint Base Cape Cod, where Teixeira has worked night shifts
In fact, the young aviator served in the very same wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard that his stepfather, Master Sgt. Thomas P. Dufault, had retired four years ago.
Dufault had even ended his 34-year military career with a ceremony in 2019 at the same Cape Cod Air Force base where Teixeira had worked night shifts and where the 102nd Intelligence Wing is housed.
His mother, Dawn Teixeira, 54, runs a flower shop in the area, Bayberry Farm & Flower Co.
She posted on the company’s Facebook page on Veterans Day in 2021 a tribute to her husband Dufault, stepson, father-in-law and son Jack, all of whom had served in the military.
Some of Teixeira’s colleagues and colleagues revealed that CNN that Teixeira had long been fascinated with the military, long before he had become a Guardsman.
John Powell, with whom Teixeira went to middle school and high school, recalled wearing it at times a textbook on military vehicles with tanks, planes and submarines.
On Veterans Day in 2021, Teixeira’s mother posted a tribute to her husband Dufault, stepson, father-in-law and son Jack, all of whom had served in the military
A person who went to school with Teixeira (pictured) remembered sometimes carrying a textbook on military vehicles with tanks, planes and submarines
Airman Teixeira is conscripted into the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Otis Air National Guard Base
Powell suggested that he was fascinated with anything “military related” from a young age. “He was determined to join some branch of the military as a kid,” he said.
He sometimes wore camouflage to school and carried a “dictionary-sized book on guns,” the outlet was told.
“A lot of people were wary of him,” said Brooke Cleathero, who also attended middle and high school with Teixeira.
“He was more of a loner, and his fascination with war and weapons made him unpleasant to many people.”
Members of the Discord server “Thug Shaker Central,” in which Teixeira was informally in charge and referred to as “OG,” held less cynical views of him, but agreed that he was interested in war.
“Everyone respected OG,” one member Vahki told the Time in an interview. ‘He was the man, the myth. And he was the legend. Everyone respected this man.’
The inside of Teixeira’s childhood home in Bristol, Massachusetts, matched photos of the sensitive files about US intelligence and the war in Ukraine that have been shared on forums since late last year, according to the Times
This document appears to reflect the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and May, when they are expected to be severely depleted
“This man was a Christian,” says Vahki, a 17-year-old high school graduate. ‘We have a number of people in our group who are in Ukraine. We like fighting games, we like war games.’
Teixeira was the oldest in the group of mostly young men and teenagers, who were crazy about gaming, guns and right-wing memes.
Airman Teixeira is conscripted into the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Otis Air National Guard Base.
His official job title is Cyber Transport Systems journeyman. The Air Force says such specialists ensure that the agency’s “extensive, global communications network” is working properly.
He will appear in court in Boston on Friday, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
On Thursday, Teixeira was pictured in aerial footage quietly reading a book on his front porch as an armored vehicle discreetly crept into his driveway.
Video captured by Boston-based news channel WCBV captured the moment the 21-year-old was taken into custody, moments after a New York Times reporter attempted to knock on his front door.
Although FBI agents had refrained from moving in with him, they had been watching Teixeira for at least a few days before his arrest, but feared an armed confrontation with the gun aficionado, government sources have revealed.
His arrest comes after President Joe Biden said on the third day of his trip to Ireland that investigators were “getting closer” to finding the source.
Biden also said he was not “concerned” about sharing the documents that threatened US assets around the world because the information is not “contemporary.”
The intelligence in the files contains information suggesting that Ukraine will soon run out of artillery, potentially endangering U.S. intelligence sources around the world.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned that rules on access to classified documents could be tightened as a result of the leak.
He said he “would not hesitate to take any additional measures necessary to protect our country’s secrets.”
“Every member of the United States Service, (Department of Defense) civilian and contractor with access to classified information has a solemn legal and moral obligation to protect it and report suspicious activity or behavior,” he said.
Going further than Austin, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder called the leak of classified information a “deliberate, criminal act.”
And hours after Teixeira’s arrest, Mike Turner, the Republican congressman who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to “investigate why this happened, why it went undetected for weeks, and how to prevent future leaks.”