WASHINGTON: A federal grand jury charged a 33-year-old man with threatening to kill US Vice President JD Vance during his visit to Ohio in January, the Justice Department said on Friday.
Shannon Mathre, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, is accused of “making a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon” the vice president, the department said in a statement.
Mathre reportedly said he was “going to find out where he (the vice president) is going to be and use my M14 automatic gun and kill him,” according to the statement. It did not say where he made the comment.
US Secret Service agents arrested Mathre on Friday.
The threat is the latest reported incident involving Vance.
Vance said in early January “a crazy person” had tried to break into his Ohio home by hammering on the windows. The vice president and his family were not home at the time, and a 26-year-old man was taken into custody, according to US media reports.
The Justice Department said on Friday it found “multiple digital files of child sexual abuse materials” in Mathre’s possession while investigating the alleged threat against Vance.
Mathre made his initial court appearance before a US Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Ohio on Friday.
He is in custody pending a detention hearing on February 11, the Justice Department said.