Matthew Bjornholt

Introduction

Matthew Bjornholt is a 27-year-old man from Chandler, Arizona, charged in October 2026 with a felony count of making a terrorist threat after Maricopa County prosecutors said he laid out a plan for a mass-casualty attack on a Jewish or Muslim house of worship. Prosecutors allege the blueprint called for bombs to be detonated before an accomplice began shooting the survivors, and that Bjornholt kept a copy of “The Anarchist Cookbook” — the bomb-making manual infamously tied to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh — and referred to it as his “Bible.” Bjornholt appeared in a Maricopa County courtroom on October 16, 2026, where a judge set bond at $100,000. Through his attorney he denies the allegations and says the case rests on unverified hearsay.

Background Information

Bjornholt’s case comes from Maricopa County jail booking records and statements made at his initial appearance, which local Phoenix station FOX 10 first reported. According to his defense attorney, the 27-year-old previously was named in a May 2019 Scottsdale case as one of five co-defendants alongside gunman Tyshaeun Tatum in a botched drug robbery and the killing of Richard Chavez; the murder charge against Bjornholt in that case was dropped for lack of evidence, and Tatum later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in 2024 to nine and a half years in prison. Bjornholt’s attorney says he subsequently completed a sentence on a drug charge stemming from that closed case, after which his civil rights — including his gun rights — were restored.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged with making a terrorist threat over an alleged bomb-and-shooter plot against a house of worship. The charge is an allegation, not a conviction; the judge who bound the case over said the state’s preliminary evidence relied heavily on hearsay, and the defense says federal investigators already cleared the claims once.

At Bjornholt’s initial appearance on Friday, October 16, 2026, Maricopa County prosecutor Stephen Garcia requested a $500,000 cash bond, describing him as an imminent danger to the community. Garcia told the court that Bjornholt allegedly revealed detailed plans to carry out an attack at a religious facility, kept a copy of “The Anarchist Cookbook” and referred to the text as his “Bible” — a manual whose pages were found among the materials Timothy McVeigh possessed before the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people. According to prosecutors, the alleged plan called for detonating bombs before an accomplice began “picking off people” with firearms, and investigators later seized three guns and ammunition from Bjornholt’s home. It remains unclear whether a specific house of worship was targeted or whether an accomplice actually exists.

Defense attorney Chad Schell pushed back on every element. He argued the charges rest entirely on unverified hearsay from a disgruntled former acquaintance — a “homeless alcoholic” whom Bjornholt had briefly let crash on his couch before kicking him out in late September. Schell told the court that the FBI had already run the claims down: on September 29, 2026, agents executed a search warrant at Bjornholt’s home, and Bjornholt voluntarily handed over his electronic devices and passwords. According to Schell, federal investigators found no evidence of terrorism or bomb-making materials and did not pursue federal charges before county authorities took over the case more than two weeks later. “They went through all of those electronic devices. They didn’t see anything about terrorism. And FBI cut him loose,” Schell said, adding that the seized guns were lawfully possessed and the ammunition amounted to no more than standard magazine loads. Fox News Digital reached out to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and FBI Phoenix for comment.

The judge found enough probable cause to move the case forward but rejected the state’s $500,000 request, saying the preliminary evidence relied heavily on hearsay, and set bond at $100,000 with mandatory electronic monitoring.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The allegations drew immediate coverage in Phoenix local news and in outlets serving the targeted communities, with prosecutors’ “picking off people” framing quoted widely. The case landed amid a documented rise in threats against religious institutions: the Anti-Defamation League recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2024 — a 5% increase over 2023 and the highest total in the 46-year history of its audit — and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office increased security patrols around houses of worship countywide in March at the request of County Supervisor Thomas Galvin after an attack on a Michigan synagogue. Other recent Valley prosecutions form the pattern prosecutors are watching: in September 2025, Mark Martinez pleaded guilty to phone threats promising a “crusade” against worshippers at a Maricopa mosque and received two years of probation, and in March, Michael Abel Dominguez was indicted on six felony counts for firing paintball and pellet guns at worshippers outside the Islamic Center of North Phoenix during Ramadan prayers. Bjornholt has made no public statement.

Current Status

Bjornholt has been charged with one felony count of making a terrorist threat but not convicted; the allegations are unadjudicated and the state’s early evidence is disputed as hearsay by the defense, a characterization the judge echoed in halving the requested bond. He remained held on $100,000 bond with mandatory electronic monitoring as of his October 16 initial appearance. He is scheduled to return to court for a status conference on October 22, 2026, followed by a preliminary hearing on October 26, 2026. The FBI’s supposed lack of findings comes so far only through his own attorney’s account of the September 29 search; the county agencies involved have not publicly detailed their evidence.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The charge carries real exposure: making a terrorist threat under Arizona law is a Class 3 felony carrying up to 8.75 years in prison for a first-time, non-dangerous offense, with convicted defendants legally required to reimburse public agencies for response and investigation costs. Whatever the outcome, the record now pairs a man whose prior murder charge was dropped for lack of evidence with an open terrorism-threat allegation prosecutors say targets worshippers — and the $100,000 bond and electronic monitoring keep him confined ahead of an October preliminary hearing that will test whether the hearsay-based case survives.

Sources

• “Arizona man accused of using OKC bombing ‘Anarchist Cookbook’ in terror plot, Fox News” source
• “‘Picking off people’: Valley man accused of plotting mass casualty attack with infamous OKC bombing ‘cookbook’, FOX 10 Phoenix” source
• “Chandler Man Accused of Plotting Attack on Valley Synagogue or Mosque, Hoodline” source