Arizona man arrested for threatening to kill Trump and his ‘whole family’
An Arizona man has been arrested by the feds for sharing expletive-laden videos “on a near-daily basis” that show him brandishing an automatic rifle as he threatens to kill President-elect Donald Trump and members of Trump’s family.
Manuel Tamayo-Torres is accused of making “vague yet direct threats” against “the president-elect,” according to court documents obtained by several news outlets. They refer to the victim as “Individual 1,” but sources close to matter confirmed to ABC News that Trump was the target of the threats.
In the Facebook videos, some of them shared as recently as last week, Tamayo-Torres allegedly spouts a slew of bizarre allegations, including that Trump kidnapped and sex trafficked his children.
“You’re gonna die,” Tamayo-Torres allegedly said in a video shared last Thursday, per ABC News. “Your son’s gonna die. Your whole family is going to die. … I’m going to put a hole in your face.”
In a separate clip shared earlier this month, Tamayo-Torres was seen armed with “what appears to be a white AR-15-style rifle with a 30-round magazine inserted into it,” according to charging documents.
In another video from Aug. 23, the suspect appeared to be recording himself at a Trump rally in the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. In the clip, Tamayo-Torres said he witnessed Secret Service members and the president-elect kidnap his daughter.
The Glendale rally came about a month after Trump was the target of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Amid their investigation into Tamayo-Torres, an officer from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found photos on Facebook featuring Tamayo-Torres holding a bullpup-style shotgun, a rifle, and the AR-15-style rifle seen in one of his videos, according to charging documents.
Tamayo-Torres was arrested earlier this week in California on a count of making threats against a president or president’s successor. He’s also facing four counts of making false statements during the purchase of a firearm after he allegedly lied on federal forms while trying to buy a pistol from a Phoenix gun store last year.