Last Updated: December 12, 2023, 12:37 IST
New York, United States of America (USA)
Vivek Ramaswamy, the youngest of all the declared candidates, is running on his outsider status and success in the tech industry. (AP Photo)
A 30-year-old man held for death threats against Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Get details on the charges and the ongoing investigation
A young man from the US state of New Hampshire has been arrested and charged in connection with death threats to Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tyler Anderson, 30, hailing from the city of Dover was arrested on Saturday and charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure Ramaswamy, the US attorney’s office in New Hampshire has said.
According to an FBI affidavit, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur’s campaign sent a text message on Friday to notify voters, including Anderson, about an upcoming campaign event in Portsmouth. Anderson allegedly responded to the message: Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out! He also said: “I’m going to kill everyone who attends and then f*** their corpses.” If convicted, Anderson could face five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a USD 250,000 fine.
While the statement from the attorney’s office did not name which presidential campaign was targeted, Ramaswamy’s team confirmed on Monday that he was the target. A statement from his staff then criticised the news media, deranged voices and left-wing cranks, accusing 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. “I think that we are very well protected,” he added. However, he declined to say when he found out about the alleged death threat or whether he would increase his security.
Ramaswamy’s staff reported the threatening text messages to authorities, the FBI affidavit said. Law enforcement officials searched Anderson’s residence on Saturday, arrested him, and seized his phone and firearms. While searching Anderson’s phone, the affidavit says, authorities discovered the texts to Ramaswamy in a deleted folder and found additional threatening messages to another candidate.
According to the affidavit, one message sent on Wednesday said: “Fantastic, now I know where to go so I can blow that b——’s head off.” Subsequent texts were referring to a mass shooting and intentions to defile a corpse. Anderson admitted to sending the text messages to Ramaswamy and confirmed that he sent threatening texts to other campaigns, according to the affidavit. Ramaswamy went on to hold the event in Portsmouth on Monday.
(With agency inputs)
