A man has been charged by federal criminal complaint for threatening to murder President Donald Trump, the United States Department of Justice announced on Friday.
Shawn Monper, a resident of Butler in Pennsylvania, made similar threats to Trump's senior advisor Elon Musk, other U.S. officials, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Butler Township Police Department, who identified and apprehended the individual.
Bondi assured that whenever threats of assassination or mass violence occur, the DOJ “will find, arrest, and prosecute the suspect to the fullest extent of the law and seek the maximum appropriate punishment.”
The department said on April 8, the FBI National Threat Operations Section (NTOS) received an emergency disclosure regarding belligerent remarks posted to YouTube by user “Mr Satan.”
Monper was determined to have made the threatening statements between January 15 and April 5. A federal investigation into his internet activity revealed his physical location.
The 32-year-old man obtained a firearms permit after Trump’s inauguration, and in February declared via his account: “I have bought several guns and been stocking up on ammo since Trump got in office.”
On February 17, he wrote: “We just need to start killing people, Trump, Elon, all the heads of agencies Trump appointed, and anyone who stands in the way. We are the majority, MAGA is a minority of the country.”
On March 4, Monper vowed to “assassinate him myself,” a comment he made in a YouTube video of the president's speech to a joint session of congress.
“ICE are terrorist people, we need to start killing them,” he urged on March 18; “If I see an armed ice agent, I will consider it a domestic terrorist, and an active shooter and open fire,” he wrote on April 1.
Monper's preliminary and detention hearings have been scheduled for April 14. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan J. McKenna is prosecuting the case.
