FBI arrests suspected document leaker, 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman

The FBI on Thursday arrested the person suspected of recently leaking sensitive Pentagon documents related to espionage and Ukraine's war against Russia. 

Officials have identified the suspect as Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said FBI agents took Teixeria into custody without incident in North Dighton, Massachusetts.

The leaked documents started appearing last year on a Discord online chat group called Thug Shaker Central.

Teixeria, who was reportedly and systems operator or IT worker, is allegedly responsible for uploading hundreds of pages of sensitive documents into the chat group, which had about 20 to 30 members, most of whom were young men who shared a love of guns, video games and racist memes.

The National Guard said before the arrest that it was aware of the "alleged role a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman may have played in the recent leak of highly-classified documents."

Teixeira's mother, Dawn, spoke outside of her Massachusetts home Thursday and confirmed that her son worked overnight shifts at a Cape Cod base.

"This guy was a Christian, anti-war, just wanted to inform some of his friends about what’s going on," one of the suspected leaker's friends told The New York Times. "We have some people in our group who are in Ukraine. We like fighting games, we like war games."

Discord said it was cooperating with law enforcement. 

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.