Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening to Kill Vivek Ramaswamy and His Supporters at Campaign Event
A man is behind bars after he threatened to kill Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy in text messages sent last week, according to law enforcement officials.
WBTS-TV, citing court documents and a statement from Ramaswamy’s campaign, reported Monday that 30-year-old Tyler Anderson of Dover, New Hampshire, was arrested in relation to text messages he had sent Friday.
According to the report, Anderson was home when he received a text message on his phone alerting him of a Ramaswamy campaign event Monday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
He allegedly responded, “Great, another opportunity for me to blow [the candidate’s] brains out!” WBTS reported.
According to the report, Anderson allegedly sent a second message that read, “I’m going to kill everyone who attends and then [expletive] their corpses.”
Ramaswamy’s campaign was not named in the charging document obtained by WBTS, but the alleged threat was in relation to an event scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday in Portsmouth.
The tech entrepreneur was the only candidate with an event scheduled for Monday in New Hampshire — a town hall at the Roundabout Diner.
I think it takes someone whose best days are still yet ahead in life to see a nation whose best days are still yet ahead of itself. We don’t have to be a nation in decline. We’re really just a little young – going through our version of adolescence, figuring out who we’re going… pic.twitter.com/WDEmsKT4Q9
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 11, 2023
Anderson is charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another and was ordered to show up in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, on Monday afternoon.
If he is convicted, he could spend up to five years in prison, be ordered to pay a fine of up to $250,000 and spend three years on probation.
According to documents related to the case, police were able to ascertain that Anderson sent two text messages to Ramawsmay’s campaign at 10:06 a.m. on Friday — moments after he received a text message notifying him of the Ramaswamy town hall.
Anderson’s phone was seized on Saturday, as were multiple firearms, WBTS reported.
Ramaswamy was not the only candidate Anderson allegedly threatened last week via text message, according to the report.
It said he had confessed to sending threatening messages to other candidates.
On Wednesday, Anderson allegedly sent a text message to another campaign in which he vowed to “blow that b******’s head off!”
Another message allegedly read, “Thanks, I’ll see you there. Hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!”
Anderson was arrested through a joint effort of the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Ramaswamy campaign, told WBTS the campaign appreciated the quick actions taken by police.
“Unfortunately it is true,” she said in an email to the station.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans,” McLaughlin said.
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