Manuel Tamayo-Torres has reportedly been accused of posting threatening videos on a “near-daily basis”
US federal authorities have arrested a man who allegedly threatened to kill President-elect Donald Trump and his family, ABC News reported on Wednesday, citing charging documents.
Manuel Tamayo-Torres, a resident of Arizona, was taken into custody in San Diego, California on Monday after posting a series of videos on Facebook, including one on November 13 in which he apparently held up an AR-15-style rifle and made threats against a certain individual and his family.
The video is no longer available online, and in the transcript provided in the court files the name of the alleged target is redacted, and referred to as “Individual 1.” The threats against him and his family are described as “vague yet direct.”
ABC News said sources familiar with the investigation have confirmed that “Individual 1” refers to Trump.
In a video posted on Facebook on November 21, Tamayo-Torres allegedly said: “You’re gonna die. Your son’s gonna die. Your whole family is going to die. … I’m going to put a hole in your face.”
Investigators said in the charging documents that the man was posting “numerous” videos “on a near-daily basis” over several months, claiming that “Individual 1” kidnapped and sex-trafficked his children. It is unclear, however, whether Tamayo-Torres has children.
Among the other clips he posted, one was from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23, when Trump held his campaign rally in the battleground state, court papers said. He claimed that he witnessed “Individual 1” and Secret Service agents kidnap his daughter.
In addition to the charges for threatening a president or president-elect, Tamayo-Torres has also been charged with several counts of making false statements on federal forms while trying to purchase a gun last year. On the form he reportedly indicated he had no felony history, when in fact he was convicted for assault in 2003 and legally prohibited from possessing firearms.
Donald Trump narrowly avoided death at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July, when a bullet fired from around 150 meters away grazed his ear. The Secret Service killed the shooter, identified as 20-year-old American Thomas Crooks. Another would-be assassin, Ryan Routh, was arrested in September after he set an ambush at a Florida golf course belonging to Trump.
