Who is Zizian, the cult group responsible for multiple murders?
Multiple media outlets have reported the arrest of a person believed to be the leader of the American-based anarchist group '
Police say they've arrested apparent Zizian group leader | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/zizians-killings-border-patrol-bf599db6b9ec354c68ed5ff4d5701b84
Prosecutors: woman charged in Border Patrol agent's killing was in touch with murder suspect | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/vermont-border-agent-killed-78d4336b6ee5ea0bb4ae372627e37f67
What to know about the killing of a Border Patrol agent and its ties to the cultlike Zizians group | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/vermont-border-patrol-shooting-youngblut-lasota-zizians-c37e931e1d4c8cbbe31dbf438684f4a4
In February 2025, Maryland State Police arrested suspects Jack Lasota and Michelle Zaiko, believed to be Zizian's leaders, on suspicion of trespassing, obstruction, and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. Police have not released details of their investigation into Zizian, but the Associated Press has uncovered details about the group through interviews, court records, and an investigation of online posts.
According to the Associated Press, Zizian began as a group of young computer scientists in their 20s and 30s who met online and shared anarchist beliefs. Although the group's goals were unclear, their online conversations covered a wide range of topics, from radical veganism to gender identity and artificial intelligence, and the group's ideology gradually became violent and cult-like.
The group's founder, Ziz LaSota, who gave the group its name, was a transgender woman who ran a blog that strongly criticized the idea of 'rationalism,' which seeks to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge. The name Ziz was a pseudonym for the blog of suspect Jack LaSota, and the name 'Zizian' was used by someone who accused those who sympathized with LaSota's ideology of being cult-like.
According to the BBC, Lasota and his associates were arrested while protesting an event held by a rationalist group, but Lasota's lawyer falsely reported that Lasota was considered dead. After that, they committed violent acts, such as attacking landowners who were demanding rent, shooting the parents of a member, and killing the landlord of a new property, but only some of the members were arrested and detained, and Zizian's activities continued.
In January 2025, a shootout occurred on a Canadian highway between U.S. border patrol agents and individuals believed to be Zizian members. One of the agents, David Marand, stopped a vehicle traveling on the highway about 15 km from the Canadian border to conduct an immigration inspection. During the stop, one of the two occupants pulled out a handgun and fired at least two shots, resulting in a shootout that killed Marand and one Zizian member who was in the vehicle.
The US Department of Homeland Security had placed Zizian members under 'regular surveillance' following the series of incidents, but following the shootout and the murder of Maran, a nationwide investigation into Zizian was conducted. Suspect Theresa Youngblatt, who caused the shootout and escaped, was indicted on weapons charges, and it was discovered that the handgun used by Youngblatt had been purchased by a third party, who was a key witness in another murder case in Pennsylvania, USA. Finally, Lasota and Zizian member Daniel Blank were arrested at the end of February 2025 for their involvement in multiple incidents.
'While there is no strict legal definition of a cult, some of Zizian's characteristics fit with the general cultural concept of the term cult,' said Poulomi Saha, a cult researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. Zizian is a group of individuals who appear to share unorthodox views, and has a leader called 'Ziz,' which is why the group fits the characteristics of a cult.
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