A New Hampshire man was indicted Thursday on allegations he sent disturbing death threats to at least three Republican presidential hopefuls, the Department of Justice announced.
Tyler Anderson, 30, now faces three counts of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another—federal charges that could send him to prison for up to five years if convicted.
Anderson was arrested last week, initially on allegations that he’d sent messages that threatened the life of entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Further investigation revealed that he’d fired off disturbing messages to two other candidates as well—Chris Christie, according to The New York Times, as well as another unnamed candidate.
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Among the messages allegedly sent by Anderson in November, federal prosecutors said that he messaged Ramaswamy’s team following the announcement of a campaign event: “Great, another opportunity for me to blow [his] brains out!”
Anderson is accused of later adding in a message to Ramaswamy that he was “going to kill everyone who attends and then f— their corpses.”
The DOJ didn’t go into as much detail about Anderson’s other alleged texts, but revealed that the 30-year-old allegedly told one candidate on Dec. 6 that he’d “blow” their “head off” and conduct a “mass shooting.”
Another nasty message was allegedly sent two days later to a third candidate, saying he’d “blow” their “brains out” and “kill everyone” who would attend a then-upcoming campaign event.
A criminal complaint from last week’s arrest said cops searched Anderson’s home in Dover and discovered his phone and the alleged texts, along with several firearms. Phone records were also used to confirm the texts came from Anderson’s phone, prosecutors said.
In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote that there’s been a rise in “threats of violence against public officials and those seeking public office across the country.”
“I have made clear that these types of illegal threats undermine the function of our democracy,” he said. “We will not tolerate illegal threats of violence directed at public officials or those seeking public office.”
In addition to jail time, Anderson also faces up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 for each charge if he’s convicted.
