A Point Roberts man accused of taking an axe to the U.S.-Canada border crossing and threatening to come back with a bomb has been indicted on federal charges, eight months after the alleged attack sent deputies rushing to the remote peninsula. Brandon Brandreth-Gibbs, 34, now faces federal counts including destruction of government property and threatening federal officers, with court documents filed Wednesday, October 21 in the Western District of Washington.
The federal case follows an alarming scene at the Point Roberts port of entry in the early hours of February 21, 2026. According to The Northern Light, Brandreth-Gibbs arrived at the crossing with an axe around 1:30 a.m. and began breaking windows in a government vehicle and the port building itself. He then allegedly threatened to return and bomb the port of entry using his truck.
Deputies arrested him and transported him by boat to the mainland for booking, the outlet reported. He was booked into Whatcom County Jail on preliminary charges of bomb threat, first-degree burglary, three counts of felony harassment and first-degree malicious mischief, held in lieu of $150,000 bail.
A History With Border Officials
The February incident was not Brandreth-Gibbs's first run-in with authorities at the crossing. Per the same account, a Whatcom County court commissioner requested that he undergo a competency evaluation at Western State Hospital just two days after his arrest. As of February 26, 2026, he remained in custody pending the ability to post bond, and records indicated the competency evaluation had been ordered, according to Whatcom News.
Whatcom News also reported that Brandreth-Gibbs had been trespassed from the port of entry back in 2019 and was cited for violating that no-trespass order on February 7, 2026, just two weeks before the alleged axe attack. The outlet further noted he pleaded guilty in January 2022 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to assaulting a federal officer with bodily injury, a charge tied to the earlier 2019 incident.
Separately, 1170 KPUG-AM described a pattern of harassment directed at Customs and Border Protection employees, noting Brandreth-Gibbs's history of friction with agency personnel and his prior trespass order. The Northern Light, citing superior court records, reported that charges from the 2019 arrest for allegedly assaulting and harassing officers were later dismissed — a detail that stands alongside the 2022 federal guilty plea reported by Whatcom News.
From Local Charges to a Federal Case
The case has now moved from local preliminary charges and a competency-evaluation request toward a full federal indictment, exactly eight months after the alleged attack. As reported by My Bellingham Now, the new federal charges against Brandreth-Gibbs include destruction of government property and threatening federal officers.
Brandreth-Gibbs has been in custody at Whatcom County Jail since February and, per My Bellingham Now, is expected to remain there until his federal case moves forward. Brandreth-Gibbs is 34 years old.
