The Daily Mail reports that a 19-year-old named Darth Jones, also known as Jaswant Singh Chail, posted a SnapChat video on Christmas Day in which he said he would assassinate Queen Elizabeth with a crossbow in revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Less than thirty minutes later, he was arrested inside the grounds of Windsor Castle, about 2000 feet from the Queen's private room. As The Daily Beast observed:
The spiked fence divides the publicly accessible land of Windsor Great Park from the private grounds of the palace. Police have attempted to play down the incident, saying the man was arrested "within moments" of the perimeter being compromised.
The palace has not commented.
Some security experts have made the case that the palace's security worked as it should have, but others have argued the armed man should never have got as far as he did.
In the video, Darth Jones claims, "I'm an Indian Sikh, a Sith." According to The Sun:
In Star Wars, the Sith are the enemies of the Jedi Knights and worship the dark side of "the Force".
Police confirmed they were assessing the video — which featured a framed picture of obscure Star Wars bad guy Darth Malgus on a wall behind the masked man.
In addition to explaining Star Wars with a hilariously awkward air of faux-journalistic objectivity, both The Sun and The Mail also reported extensively on the details of Darth Jones' parents' house.
Darth Jones is currently being held under the UK's Mental Health Act.
Man Who Tried to Kill the Queen With a Crossbow Made Darth Vader Terror Video Before Breaking into Palace [Tom Sykes / The Daily Beast]
Something's gone horribly wrong with our son and we are trying to figure out what': Father of Windsor Castle intruder, 19, tells of family's horror as video emerges of crossbow-wielding suspect vowing to assassinate the Queen [Vivek Chaudhary, Rebecca English, and Rebecca Camber / The Daily Mail]
Image: Public Domain via Flickr
