112 TCC-radicalized students identified by police in Jakarta, Indonesia
Online radicalization led to an attack in November that injured 96 students at a primary school. Since then, police have averted 20 different school shooting plots connected to TCC.
Anti-terrorism police in Jakarta cited the K-12 School Shooting Database (my research project) in their explanation of the investigations into 112 students connected to True Crime Community (TCC) in Indonesia. In just the last 2 months, Jakarta police have arrested 20 students for plotting TCC-inspired school shootings.
On November 7, 2025, 97 students were injured by a TCC-inspired student who committed a shooting/bombing at his school. The 17-year-old student had 2 replica AR-15 airsoft rifles (real guns are very hard to get in Indonesia) when he detonated seven IEDs inside National High School 72 during afternoon prayers. The symbols and writing on the teen’s clothing and weapons included:
“Natural Selection” the t-shirt worn by Eric Harris in the 1999 Columbine shooting.
“14 Words” a well-known white supremacist message.
“Brenton Tarrant” who carried out the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand. His rifle was covered in names, symbols, and dates making this style with a white marker the template.
“Luca Traini” an Italian extremist who shot several African immigrants during a racially motivated attack in Macerata, Italy (2018).
“Bissonnette” for Alexandre Bissonnette who carried out the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting in Canada.
Jakarta’s anti-terrorism police unit determined online activity of the 112 TCC-involved students they investigated was not connected to ISIS or formal terrorist groups. According to the police spokesman, TCC is purely a phenomenon of global violence that develops in the digital space and has no direct relationship with domestic terrorist networks. If you missed it last year, here is my explanation of the difference between political violence, mass shootings, and terrorism.
“In this True Crime Community, there is no element of homegrown terrorism. This is purely an interest in the global violent genre that then entered and developed in Indonesia,” he said.
The police spokesman also highlighted the role of social media algorithms in accelerating the process of exposure and recruitment based on violent content (algorithmic recruitment), especially for children and adolescents who are still psychologically vulnerable.
He cited data from the K-12 School Shooting Database which recorded a significant spike in cases of violence, especially shootings at schools, during the COVID19 pandemic. This phenomenon, he said, occurred in various countries, not only in Indonesia.
“This is a warning that exposure to violence in the digital space is global and cross-country, so it requires comprehensive cross-sectoral handling,” he concluded.
Here is a clip from my interview on Indonesia’s national news network following the November attack (full interview on YouTube):
Learn More about TCC and Online Radicalization:
Ep 60. Inside the True Crime Community (TCC) that grooms teens into school shooters
Ep 57. TCC, gore videos, groypers, and online radicalization
Meme culture, Groypers, school shooters, and ‘Anomie Extremism’
Discord Platform: What schools and parents need to know to prevent a school shooting
David Riedman, PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my podcast—Riedman Report: Risk, AI, Education & Security—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio and the New England Journal of Medicine.