A federal grand jury has 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, according to a statement from the department.
Mathre allegedly 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,” the statement said, without specifying where the comment was made.
US Secret Service agents arrested Mathre on Friday.
The threat is the latest reported incident involving Vance. In early January, the vice president said that “a crazy person” had attempted to break into his Ohio home by hammering on the windows. Vance and his family were not at 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 that investigators also found “multiple digital files of child sexual abuse materials” in Mathre’s possession while probing 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 remains in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Sunday, the department said.
