Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Unpopular Teen Got Revenge - The Story of Brandon Hole

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

The tragic story of Brandon Hole, the My Little Pony fan who committed murder at a FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis Indiana.

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Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bonus subscribers. Terms apply. Remember when that My Little Pony fan went insane and he murdered a bunch of people? So the story all starts with this guy, Brandon. And Brandon is 18 when all this begins, living in Indianapolis, and the dude has a problem. Actually, he has a lot of problems. He has some mental health issues. He's dropped out of school, he doesn't have any friends, so he's always isolated.

In fact, one of the only things he seems to show interest in, is the cartoon show My Little Pony. He loves My Little Pony. He watches all the episodes. His whole bedroom is decorated with My Little Pony stuff. This is an actual picture of his bedroom, and you can see how he's got it all set up. And that's fine and all, you know, people like what they like. But Brandon likes My Little Pony to the point of delusion.

Specifically, he appears to be in love with the character Applejack. He feels like he has a deep personal connection with her. He often refers to her as his wife. And if that isn't concerning enough, one day in 2020, Brandon really starts to go off the deep end. Because that is when he goes to a local army surplus store and he buys himself a shotgun. And during this time, he still lives at home with his mom, who will just call mom. And because Brandon lives at home with his mom, she finds out about the shotgun and she freaks the hell out. Mostly because, like I said, he's got a history of mental health issues.

Like he's been arrested before for battery, he used to get suspended from school for fighting. The dude has got some violent tendencies. So of course, she questions his motives for buying the gun. And Brendan straight up tells her that he plans to point it at police so that they shoot back at him and kill him. So he apparently wants to unalive himself via cop. So this, without a doubt, freaks mom out even more. Then he gets super pissed off and he like punches her in the arm, hard. So poor mom has no other choice.

She goes to police and she tells them, My son just bought a shotgun and he's threatening to point it at cops so that they shoot him. And police actually hear her out and they go over to her house where Brandon is to check on him. And when they get there, he immediately starts acting anxious. And the officers ask him where the shotgun is, and he says it's upstairs, but he tells them that if they go up there, they need to turn off his computer so that no one sees what's on it. And I'm sure that makes them very suspicious. So, of course, when one of the officers goes upstairs to retrieve the shotgun, they see what's on Brandon's computer screen. Some Neo-Yazzi propaganda websites.

Which is not technically illegal, but it's also not a good look. Then police sees his shotgun, and they detain Brandon, and they take him to a local hospital to make him get a psychiatric evaluation. So he gets the evaluation, and somehow Brandon is able to convince the doctors there that there's nothing wrong with him, and that he isn't a danger to himself or others. I mean, I guess this works because within two hours, they declare, you're fine, and they let him go. Now, at some point, local police contact the FBI, and they tell them to keep an eye on this kid with mental health issues

who just bought a gun who has a bunch of neo-yazzi stuff on his computer. Because, you know, they think he might be radicalized. So the FBI starts investigating Brandon. And about a month later, they come over to his mom's house to question him because they want to see if he's actually a threat. So they're there and they're talking to him, and it's there that Brandon randomly mentions that maybe one day he could join law enforcement. And one of the FBI agents is like, let me stop you right there.

And the agent lets him know that it's probably not going to be an option for him. Because, you know, the neo-yazzi stuff on his computer. And by the time the interview is done, an agent tells Brandon's mom that he shows all the signs of a mass shooter, but that he also hasn't committed. any crimes. So they can't just like arrest him for nothing. And on top of that, police, who just seized his shotgun the month before, they're supposed to have what's called a red flag hearing, where they hold a court hearing to formally convince the court to ban him from owning guns in the future. But for whatever reason, they fail to hold that hearing, which means Brandon can now

legally go out and buy guns again. So of course, over the next session, several months, Brandon goes out and he buys two rifles. Now, here's where shit gets real. That same year, he gets a job working for FedEx. And, you know, he's doing fine there, apparently. But a few months go by, and his mental health issues keep getting worse and worse. And slowly but surely, he stopped showing up to work. Like, he just abandons the job. So FedEx fires him. or he quit, depending on how you look at it. And a few more months pass, and it's now 2021. And Brandon continues to disconnect more and more from the real world.

All he seems to care about are the characters from My Little Pony. And as he disconnects, he decides that he is going to show everyone else that he is his own man and that he doesn't need anyone else's acceptance. In fact, he plans to walk into his own. old job at FedEx and murder a bunch of people. So one night in 2021, he decides that, yeah, this is the night that he's going to do it. So he tells his mom that he's going to bed, but he doesn't go to bed. Instead, he packs up those two rifles that he bought, and those rifles have My Little Pony stickers on them, by the way. Then he gets on Facebook and he posts

one final status, declaring his love for his favorite My Little Pony. pony character. The post is actually a picture of him holding a gun and the caption says, I hope that I can be with Applejack in the afterlife. My life has no other meaning without her. And if there is no afterlife and she isn't real, then my life never mattered anyway. Then he gets into his car and his car also has my little pony stickers on it and he drives over to the FedEx facility. Once he gets there, he parks and he gets out and he sees some FedEx employees in the parking lot, and suddenly, blam, blam, blam, blam, he starts shooting at them.

Anyone he sees, he fires, blam, blam, and everyone runs away, panicking. Then he heads over to the employee entrance, and he enters the building. And there, there's a bunch of people in the lobby, and blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, he starts shooting at them too. Now, Brandon wants to go further into the building inside the main warehouse where there are hundreds of employees working. However, luckily for all. All of them, he can't get past the security gate.

So he has nowhere else to go, and he decides to head back out to the parking lot, and there, Blam, Blam, Blam, Blam, Blam, he continues to shoot at more people fleeing. And so far, he's killed eight people, and he's wounded seven others. And one employee is at his car, and he's able to get a gun from there, because I guess he keeps a gun in his car, and blam, he shoots once at Brandon, but he misses. Then the guy just runs away, because, you know, he ain't trying to get shot. And by now, everyone in the area who has access to a phone is calling the police. So it's only a matter of time before they show up and bust him.

And I'm not sure if Brandon realizes this or what, but next he goes back into the FedEx building and into the locker room. And there, he takes one of the rifles and he unalives himself.