Raleigh Teen Could Get Five Years in Alleged Murder Plot

By Cash Michaels –

A white Raleigh teenager could face five years in federal prison for allegedly threatening on Instagram to kill African American and Hispanic people in a mass shooting, federal authorities say.

Eric Constantine Byrd, 19, made his first appearance in federal court last week where he sat handcuffed in his street clothes. Byrd is charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce to injure another person.

The FBI Raleigh Joint Terrorism Task Force was alerted by officials in Washington, DC after Meta, the social platform company, forwarded several of Byrd’s threatening posts to them.

The charge results from threats Byrd allegedly made online between Feb. 9 and March 6 using the hashtag #active to indicate his intention to become an active shooter. Prosecutors say that during that time, Byrd posted his white supremacist/neo-Nazi intentions to murder Blacks, Hispanics, and homosexuals, among others, and become a well-known mass shooter.

“Planning on getting #active on my local [slur against Black people] and [slur against Hispanic people],” one post reads. “I’m just trying to find the time to do it which idk when yet [shrugging emoji]. I’m not a p—y I will record it! #NOLIVESMATTER,” he allegedly posted.

Byrd also promoted the prospect of killing himself after a racial mass shooting, if not killed by “someone else.” Several of the young white supremacist’s posts feature pictures of him holding guns, according to court documents.

Reportedly, when the FBI began investigating Byrd and went to his home in Raleigh, the teen’s parents admitted that their son, who lived with them, “had issues.” Subsequent to that, according to a criminal complaint, his parents revealed that he did purchase a firearm, but didn’t “have access to it.”

“After some hesitation, Byrd’s mother escorted an FBI [agent] to an upstairs bedroom,” the complaint continues. “The firearm was located in a blue box in the closet of what was later determined to be Byrd’s bedroom.”

Raleigh police had to be called to the home in January because of an alleged incident after Byrd “lost his mind.”

“Byrd admitted that if he had ammunition for his firearm during the aforementioned January 2026 incident with his parents, he would have ‘probably’ killed them,” the complaint states. It was later determined in a search of the Raleigh teen’s emails that he had purchased an AK-47 rifle in December (though the FBI believes he may have sold it), along with 1,000 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.

Byrd also admitted in online posts that he enjoyed watching other people suffer.