GROTON, Conn. - Once held on $1 million bond for livestreaming threats to shoot elementary school children, a local military veteran is now out of jail and getting the mental health treatment and services he needs, according to his attorney.
Aaron Stanislav, 34, is free on a promise to appear in court, engaged in treatment with Veterans Affairs and in a better place than the "crisis moment," he had in January that led to his arrest, public defender Sean Kelly said. Groton Town Police charged Stanislav on Jan. 20 with first-degree threatening with intent to terrorize, a felony, after police were made aware of a series of videos Stanislav had posted on the livestreaming platform Twitch.
"You know, I could go to an elementary school and plug every single (expletive) kid they had and then go to the next elementary school and all the elementary schools after that and get rid of all the kids I'd be a happy camper. Yeah, no, I would murder them all," Stanislav said in one online post, according to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case.
At the time of his alleged statements, Stanislav was already being monitored by probation officers because of a 2023 arrest on charges he stored a stash of ammunition, a high-capacity magazine and body armor, among other items on the grounds of the 77-acre, state-owned Mystic Education Center property at 240 Oral School Road in Mystic, not far from his home on Cow Hill Road.
Stanislav, a former Marine with combat experience who records show is bipolar and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, had entered into a supervised court diversionary program that offers a path to a dismissal of charges.
But on Jan. 7, the state police Intelligence Operations Unit was asked to assist in a "behavior health assessment" of Stanislav, who police said was suspected of not taking his medications and abusing alcohol.
An analyst with the intelligence gathering group contacted Groton Town police about a threat Stanislav had made on Jan. 19 in which Stanislav talks about killing school children while making other homicidal and suicidal statements, police reports show. At the time, police said they suspected Stanislav was staying at the vacant Mystic Education Center, also known as the Oral School, where he had jury-rigged power to a room in one of the buildings. Police eventually caught up with Stanislav at the VFW in Stonington where he was taken into custody.
Court records show Stanislav was first held on a $1 million bond and later deemed to be not competent to stand trial. He was transferred to the supervision of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and later determined to be competent, records show.
With housing and mental health services now available to him, Kelly said Stanislav is "in the best situation he could be in right now," for himself and others. If all goes as planned, Kelly said his hope is to have all charges against Stanislav dismissed. Stanislav is barred by a court order from possessing any guns or ammunition and Kelly said there is no evidence that Stanislav ever had access to guns at the time of his arrests.
Stanislav's case is pending in New London Superior Court. His case is due for an update on Oct 17.
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