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Man arrested for threatening to kill Indian American presidential candidate
Anderson faces a maximum of five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, if proved guilty
Vivek Ramaswamy / Image – Instagram/@vivekgramaswamy
A resident of New Hampshire (NH) was arrested on December 11 after threatening to kill Indian American presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tyler Anderson, 30, from Dover, Concord, was arrested in connection with threatening Ramaswamy and attendees of a campaign event scheduled to take place in Portsmouth, NH.
According to an official statement by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the accused was charged with transmitting a threat to injure a person or another, through interstate commerce. He made an initial appearance in federal court in a local court, hours after being arrested.
Court documents reveal Anderson was apprised of the political event via a text message that he received from the Ramaswamy campaign. He responded to the text message on December 8, 2023, writing, “Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out!” and “I’m going to kill everyone who attends and then f*** their corpses,” as per an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.
While the DOJ statement, did not name Ramaswamy he was the only GOP presidential hopeful with a scheduled Town Hall in Portsmouth on the morning of December 11 at the Roundabout Diner. Tricia McLaughlin, a Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson confirmed that Anderson had threatened to target Ramaswamy’s campaign.
"Unfortunately it is true," she said in an email to NBC. "We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans."
Court documents showed that Verizon Wireless records were investigated to determine that the messages were indeed sent from Anderson’s phone at 10:06 a.m. on December 8, within minutes of receiving the invitation message from the Ramaswamy camp.
The following day, federal agents arrived at Anderson’s home with a search warrant. A mobile phone that was believed to be used to send the messages was seized, along with firearms. Documents did not specify the type of guns that were seized.
During a preliminary search of the phone, FBI agents found the text messages reported by Ramaswamy’s campaign staff. Additional messages sent on December 6 to a different candidate containing threats to “blow that bastard’s head off!” were found in a deleted folder.
Another message read, "Thanks, I'll see you there. Hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!” Anderson admitted to sending the threatening messages to Ramaswamy and “multiple other campaigns,” during an interview with the FBI. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, if proved guilty.
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