A Pennsylvania man who beheaded his own father before showing off his crime on YouTube has revealed why he committed such an awful act.
Justin D. Mohn, 33, took the stand on the third day of his trial in Philadelphia, where he is accused of fatally shooting and beheading his father, Michael F. Mohn, on January 30, 2024.
Prosecutors say Mohn then posted footage of the killing on YouTube in a 14-minute video titled “Mohn’s Militia – Call to Arms for American Patriots,” where it remained for several hours before being removed.
Mohn now faces charges of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, terrorism-related crimes, and possessing instruments of crime, per ABC6.
“Unfortunately, he resisted,” Mohn told the court. “I was hoping to perform a citizen’s arrest on my father for, ultimately, treason.”
During approximately two hours of testimony and cross-examination, Mohn explained that he shot his father in their family bathroom after telling him he was going to carry out a citizen’s arrest.
He claimed his father responded that he would kill him before letting that happen and then reached for a gun, prompting Mohn to open fire.
In court, portions of Mohn’s notebook were shown, with lines like “boom” and “slice” appearing under “Plan B” should his father refuse the arrest.
He told the court that his parents were politically on the left, and he believed his father wanted to stop him from becoming a “charismatic politician like President Donald Trump,” according to the New York Post.
Mohn further claimed his father gave false statements in an unrelated civil case that had landed him in federal court.
When asked why he beheaded his father, Mohn said it was to intimidate federal agents and workers to meet his demands, which included resignations and the cancellation of public debt.
He said: “I knew something such as a severed head would not only go viral but could lessen the violence,” and added that he “did not have hatred for his father and did not want to cause his family trauma,” although his mother’s cries in court showed otherwise.
Prosecutors described the murder as “something straight out of a horror film,” calling it a “cold, calculated, organized” act of intimidation aimed at the federal government.
They noted that Michael Mohn had previously worked for the federal government with the Army Corps of Engineers' Philadelphia District.
In the disturbing YouTube video, Mohn lifted up his father’s severed head in a bloody plastic bag, stating the victim was a “federal employee of over 20 years” and declaring: “He is now in hell for an eternity as a traitor to his country.”
He then launched into a rant calling for the unification of “militias” to target and kill federal officials “on sight,” while also expressing anti-government sentiments and right-wing talking points on immigration, the Biden administration, the LGBTQ community, Black Lives Matter, and “far-left woke mobs.”
“Satan wants America to fall so he can unleash his plan on the world,” Mohn declared in the video, claiming he could be the first “unanimously elected [presidential] candidate since George Washington.”
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He continued: “I was betrayed by the FBI, the federal courts, and my own family, because there are people who believe I am the Messiah.
"This belief that I am the Messiah is why you have never heard this story on the news, because it would spread that belief. I’m not saying I am the Messiah, as I would never compare myself to Jesus Christ. I’m just saying, that’s why I was betrayed.”
As prosecutors continue to lay out what they describe as a shocking act of domestic terrorism and murder, Mohn’s trial has drawn intense attention, leaving a Pennsylvania community in disbelief over a crime that even seasoned investigators have described as “straight out of a horror film.”