A suspect has been taken into police custody after reports of death threats against acting SFPD Chief Toney Chaplin surfaced on July 16th.
SFPD released a statement on Tuesday, July 18th that Chaplin had received criminal threats via social media, and the department was in the process of investigating and conducting interviews in order to present a case to the District Attorney's Office.
On Tuesday night, Officer Carlos Manfredi reported that the suspect was identified as Donald Eric Hoganson, 60. Hoganson is in police custody after a search warrant was approved and served on the 2600 block of Ortega Street in the Outer Sunset.
The Chronicle reported that the threat came from a racist tweet, which called for the beheading of "this black man," with a picture of Chaplin alongside another picture of a guillotine. Authorities identified Hoganson as the person behind the Twitter account, @BethesdaSavior, which has been used to promote white supremacy in the past.
@SFPD Let Us behead this black man, please! Praise God Almighty, and Jesus Christ! Isalam, Bethesda & Mizpah. 🚨Amen. pic.twitter.com/mnzl2bGRMM
— LambofGod (@BethesdaSavior) July 16, 2016
The above tweet has since been removed from @BethesdaSavior's feed.
Hoodline media partner ABC7 produced this report from the suspect's home, stating that while he had no previous criminal history, he was known throughout the Outer Sunset for his controversial beliefs, including signs with swastikas on his door.
The account attributed to Hoganson has also sent a tweet to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, which features a picture of a black man being lynched with the text "White Supremacy and Whites Only by Order."
And it doesn't end there: he has allegedly tweeted hateful (and often confusing) images and messages at many local and national elected officials, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, California Governor Jerry Brown, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, and even San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who received an image of a swastika covering an Irish flag.
While Hoganson is in custody, he has not been formally booked, as the investigation is active and ongoing.
