A New Hampshire man has been nabbed for allegedly sending text messages filled with threats to snuff out GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, along with attendees at a Ramaswamy campaign event in Portsmouth. 30-year-old Tyler Anderson of Dover faces the music with a federal charge under the heavy hand of the law, as reported by NBC Boston.
The arrest follows Anderson reportedly replying to a campaign text message announcing an event scheduled for today. "Great, another opportunity for me to blow [the candidate's] brains out!" and "I'm going to kill everyone who attends and then [expletive] their corpses," Anderson shot back. He's set for a federal court appearance in Concord Monday afternoon, a press release from U.S. Attorney Jane Young specified.
According to court documentation, Verizon Wireless records pinpointed the threatening messages to Anderson's phone just six minutes after he received a campaign notification, Boston 25 News states. Investigators executing a search warrant at Anderson's Central Avenue residence found firearms alongside a Samsung Galaxy S10E phone believed to have sent the menacing texts.
During the slice and dice of the investigation, an FBI agent found the reported messages in a deleted folder on Anderson's phone, and they didn’t stop there; additional threats were discovered and sent to another, different candidate. The courtroom paperwork states, "Thanks, I'll see you there, hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!" Anderson confessed to the FBI about his spree of threatening messages aimed at multiple campaigns; no further details about the nature of those threats were released.
Anderson now stares down the barrel of a sentence that could be up to five years in the slammer, three years hanging in the balance of probation, and a fine that could climb to $250,000. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign, acknowledged the dark cloud over the campaign with "Unfortunately it is true," and expressed gratitude toward law enforcement for their rapid response and dedication. She extended a prayer for the security of all Americans in her email to NBC Boston.
The FBI took the lead in the investigation, with Dover and Portsmouth police chipping in. The case unfolds as a chilling reminder of the vitriol infesting political discourse and the very real dangers candidates face while on the grueling campaign trail.
