Man Threatens To Kill US Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Attendees Of His Event. Arrested
The man allegedly sent text messages reading "blow his brains out: and "kill everyone" in response to Ramaswamy campaign's text.
A man has been arrested and charged for allegedly issuing threats to kill Indian-American US Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and attendees of his campaign event. US attorney’s office in New Hampshire said the 30-year-old man has been charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure Ramaswamy and was arrested on Saturday, reported PTI. The accused, identified as Tyler Anderson of Dover in New Hampshire, sent the threat in response to a text message sent by Ramaswamy's campaign to notify voters about an upcoming event in Portsmouth, the report added citing an FBI affidavit.
Ramaswamy is a 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and is running for the Republican nomination for the United States Presidential elections to be held in 2024.
In his message, Anderson allegedly wrote: "Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out!” He also said: “I’m going to kill everyone who attends" and also added a vulgar description of what he would do to the bodies, the report further mentioned.
PTI report said the statement from the US attorney’s office did not name which presidential campaign was targeted, but Ramaswamy’s team confirmed on Monday that he was the target, reported The Washington Post.
Unfortunately, It Is True: Ramaswamy Campaign
A spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign said: "Unfortunately it is true." "We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans," Tricia McLaughlin added, as quoted by PTI.
Later, a statement from his staff criticised the news media, "deranged voices" and "left-wing cranks", and accused the groups of inciting violence against the Republicans ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.
"I’m grateful to the people on the front lines who work hard every day to make sure people like me and other Americans keep safe," Ramaswamy told reporters in New Hampshire, adding, "I think that we are very well protected." However, he refused to tell when he found out about the alleged death threat or whether he would increase his security.
Here's What The FBI Affidavit Said
According to the FBI affidavit, Ramaswamy’s staff reported the threatening text messages to authorities, as per PTI. Law enforcement officials searched Anderson’s residence on Saturday. They arrested him and seized his phone and firearms. They discovered the texts sent to Ramaswamy in a deleted folder and found additional threatening messages to another candidate, the report further said.
"Fantastic, now I know where to go so I can blow that b------'s head off," one of the messages read. Another referred to "a mass shooting" and intentions to defile a corpse. The affidavit said that Anderson admitted to sending the text messages to Ramaswamy and confirmed that he sent threatening texts to other campaigns, according to the report.
As per the report, if convicted, Anderson could face five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a USD 250,000 fine
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