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A Virginia man faces charges for allegedly making online threats to kill Vice President Kamala Harris and other public officials last week.
According to court records reviewed by Newsweek, Frank Carillo of Winchester, Virginia, was charged with making threats against the vice president after the Maricopa County, Arizona, Recorder’s Office notified the FBI’s Phoenix office of several threatening statements found on the social media platform GETTR.
Carillo appeared in the Western District of Virginia court on Monday, where a judge ordered him detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.
FBI Special Agent Melissa Macaron stated in a criminal complaint that investigators first received reports of Carillo’s posts on July 27, after he threatened a Maricopa County election official. The official’s name was redacted from court documents.
Further investigation revealed Carillo had made approximately 4,359 posts targeting various public officials, including Harris, President Joe Biden, and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Carillo’s threats against Harris included statements such as “Kamala Harris needs to be put on fire alive I will do it personally if no one else does it I want her to suffer a slow agonizing death,” as well as threats if she became president.
These posts followed shortly after Harris announced her bid to run for the Democrat Party’s presidential nomination and after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13.
The FBI identified Carillo through subscriber information from GETTR and conducted a search of his residence on Friday, where they found firearms.
Carillo was charged with a felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh emphasized the importance of open political discourse but stated that law enforcement must intervene when disagreements turn into threats of violence.
