Our Bureau
New Hampshire
A 30-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with death threats aimed at Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his campaign event attendees.
The attorney’s office said Tyler Anderson of Dover in New Hampshire was arrested and charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur. A businessman and a Republican presidential candidate, Ramaswamy went on to hold the event in Portsmouth on Monday.
According to an FBI affidavit, the Ramaswamy campaign sent a text message on Friday to notify voters, including Anderson, about an upcoming campaign event in Portsmouth. Anderson allegedly responded to the message: “Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out!”
He also said: “I’m going to kill everyone who attends” and added a vulgar description of what he would do to the bodies.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign, said, “We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans,” she added.
“I’m grateful to the people on the front lines who work hard every day to make sure people like me and other Americans keep safe,” Ramaswamy told reporters in New Hampshire. “I think that we are very well protected,” he added.
Law enforcement officials searched Anderson’s residence on Saturday, arrested him, and seized his phone and firearms.
While searching Anderson’s phone, the affidavit says, authorities discovered the texts to Ramaswamy in a deleted folder and found additional threatening messages to another candidate.
