Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified US intelligence, made an emotional final call to his online gamer friends just before the FBI arrested him, admitting that he "never wanted it to get like this."

"Guys, it's been good — I love you all," Teixeira reportedly said on the call, as shared by a member of the online group who goes by the screen name Vahki. "I never wanted it to get like this. I prayed to God that this would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. Only God can decide what happens from now on."

Vahki told The New York Times that Teixeira appeared to be in a speeding vehicle when he joined the call. Teixeira was arrested on Thursday by heavily armed federal agents at his mother's home in North Dighton, Massachusetts. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he would be charged with removing or transmitting classified national defense information, a crime under the 1917 Espionage Act that carries a lengthy prison sentence.

Less than two hours before his arrest, the Times identified Teixeira as the administrator of a Discord gaming platform channel called "Thug Shaker Center." The 20- to 30-member channel was where a batch of intelligence reports, some labeled "Secret" and "Top Secret," first surfaced. The documents included information on Ukraine's fighting capabilities, potential vulnerabilities, sensitive details about its allies, and US intelligence gathering.

Interviews with "Thug Shaker Center" members revealed that the online community was a place for teenage boys and young men to bond over their love of guns, play war-themed video games, and exchange memes, some of which were racist. Teixeira, known in the group as O.G., was described as its de facto leader. Members said he aimed to educate others in the online community about actual warfare.

Vahki, a 17-year-old recent high school graduate, said in an interview, "Everyone respected O.G. He was the man, the myth. And he was the legend. Everyone respected this guy."

Teixeira worked as a cyber transport systems journeyman with the Air National Guard's 102nd Intelligence Wing, the same unit where his stepfather, Master Sgt. Thomas Dufault, served for 34 years before retiring four years ago. As a cyber transport systems specialist, Teixeira was responsible for military communications networks and would have had a higher level of security clearance, as he would also have been tasked with ensuring network protection, a defense official told the Associated Press.

Starting in October, Teixeira reportedly shared descriptions of classified documents before uploading hundreds of pages, some containing "Top Secret" detailed battlefield maps from Ukraine. Vahki insisted that Teixeira was not a whistleblower like Edward Snowden and that the documents he shared in the gaming channel were never intended to be widely disseminated online.

Vahki said that between October and March, Teixeira uploaded about 350 pages to their channel. However, when the highly sensitive documents eventually spread to other gaming platforms, pro-Russian Telegram channels, and made international headlines earlier this month, Vahki said a panicked Teixeira began withdrawing from his online accounts.

Vahki explained, "He was very freaked out. This isn't something like an 'oopsie-daisy — I'm going to be reprimanded.' This is life-in-prison type stuff." Teixeira was scheduled to make his initial appearance in Boston federal court on Friday.