A 30-year-old New Hampshire man was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his supporters, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire announced Monday.
Investigators say that Tyler Anderson replied to a text message from the Ramaswamy campaign about an upcoming event scheduled to take place in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, writing, “Great, another opportunity for me to blow [his] brains out!” He later said he was “going to kill everyone who attends and then f— their corpses.”
A criminal complaint said law enforcement searched Anderson’s home on Saturday and discovered his phone and the alleged texts, which were deleted, along with several firearms. They used records from Verizon Wireless to ascertain that the two messages were sent from Anderson’s phone at 10:06 a.m. on Friday, just six minutes after he received the notification from Ramaswamy’s campaign.
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Investigators also found alarming messages sent to an undisclosed candidate on Wednesday, which included, “Thanks, I’ll see you there. Hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!”
NECN reported that Anderson admitted to sending the texts during an interview with the FBI.
A press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for New Hampshire stated that Anderson was charged with “transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another,” which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
On Monday, Ramaswamy’s campaign spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said, “We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Amercians.”
ABC News reported that Ramaswamy still held his Portsmouth gathering on Monday morning, but there was increased security in the area.
Anderson is set to make an appearance in federal court in Concord on Monday at 2:30 p.m.
