TAMPA, Fla. – A Venice man with ties to a white supremacist organization has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for possessing an unregistered firearm. U.S. District Judge William F. Jung handed down the sentence to Alexander Lightner, 27, who pleaded guilty on March 11, 2025.
According to court records, Lightner is a member of the “Terrorgram Collective,” an online group that espouses white supremacist beliefs and advocates for violence and terrorism to instigate a “race war” and the establishment of a white ethnostate.
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Investigators uncovered chilling posts made by Lightner within an exclusive Terrorgram chat on December 29, 2023. In these messages, Lightner expressed his intent to commit violent acts driven by his far-right extremist ideology. His posts included ominous phrases such as “2024 there shall be saints” and “Highscore shall be defeated.”
Authorities state that “saints” is a term used within white supremacist online communities to venerate individuals who have committed severe acts of hate-motivated violence. The phrase “Highscore shall be defeated” refers to a future attack by a white supremacist intended to surpass the casualty count of previous attacks.
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Less than a week after these disturbing posts, federal agents executed a search warrant at Lightner’s Venice residence. There, they discovered a firearm silencer, multiple firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a copy of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” Agents also found extremist literature containing detailed descriptions of mass shootings and praising historical white supremacist mass murderers.
During an interview with law enforcement, Lightner admitted to owning and self-manufacturing the firearm silencer. He also confessed to making the threatening posts on Telegram.
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