The apparent leader of a cult-like group linked to multiple killings has been arrested in the US.
Police said Jack LaSota – known as Ziz – was detained on Sunday in Maryland, and faces charges including trespass, possession of a handgun in a vehicle, and obstructing and loitering.
Michelle Zajko, 32, and Daniel Blank, 26, were arrested on similar charges and all three are being held at a local jail.
“The Zizians” have been tied to the killing of US border patrol agent David Maland in January, as well as five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California.
Mr Maland, 44, died in a shootout following a traffic stop near the Canadian border in Vermont.
One of LaSota’s followers, German national Ophelia Bauckholt, was also killed in the incident when a woman she was with, Teresa Youngblut, allegedly opened fire.
LaSota, 34, who uses she/her pronouns and said online she is a transgender woman, is a computer programmer and appears to be the leader of the Zizians.
According to the Associated Press news agency, the group appears to be made up of highly intelligent computer scientists, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.
Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings cover topics from gender identity, radical veganism and artificial intelligence.
Hellbound and Down 