By A New Hampshire man was arrested on a charge of threatening to kill Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his supporters at a campaign event in the state, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.
The man, Tyler Anderson, last week allegedly responded to a Ramaswamy campaign text message about a meet-and-greet breakfast in Portsmouth on Monday with a death threat to the candidate and “everyone who attends,” according to an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.
“Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out!” 30-year-old Anderson wrote in response to the campaign text, the affidavit said.
The candidate is not named in the charging document filed against the Dover resident in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire.
But his campaign confirmed he was the target of the threat.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans,” a Ramaswamy spokesperson told NBC News.
After his arrest, Anderson admitted to police that he sent threatening messages to the candidate and “multiple other campaigns,” the affidavit said.
Federal agents on Saturday obtained a search warrant for Anderson’s residence to seize his Samsung Galaxy smartphone and “firearms located on the premises,” an FBI agent wrote in the criminal complaint affidavit.
It is unclear what kind of guns were alleged to be in the residence, or if they were seized in the search.
Anderson is charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure another person. If convicted, he faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Anderson is set to appear in Concord federal court later Monday on the charge.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
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