A Virginia man has been charged with making numerous death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Frank Lucio Carillo, of Winchester, Virginia, posted a series of violent threats about Harris last month using an alias on the conservative social media site GETTR, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in the Western District of Virginia on Friday. Investigators alleged that Carillo had posted 19 times about Harris, including threats to shoot, stab and burn her alive.
Carillo, 66, made his first appearance in federal court Monday. He is being temporarily detained pending a court hearing scheduled for Thursday.
In one of his July 27 social media posts, after Harris launched her presidential campaign and two weeks after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Carillo said that if she’s elected, “I will shoot and kill everyone” who tried to obstruct his efforts, the criminal complaint said. Investigators said a search of Carillo’s home turned up two guns — a handgun that he purchased last year and an RF-15 rifle that he bought this year. He also allegedly had thousands of rounds of ammunition.
A county recorder’s office in Arizona had first notified authorities about threats to Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer coming from the user “joemadarats1,” which the FBI identified as an account tied to Carillo through subscriber and device information and an analysis of Google location history records, according to the complaint.
In sum, Carillo allegedly made 4,359 posts or replies targeting public officials, authorities said. Other federal officials who were targeted included President Joe Biden and FBI Director Christopher Wray, the complaint alleged.
The Justice Department said that in a February post, “joemadarats1” said he had his “AR-15 LOCKED AND LOADED.”
Investigators said that following his arrest, Carillo allegedly told officers, “This is all over a comment, huh?”
Carillo also made threatening comments about shooting Muslims and said illegal immigrants “should be shot in the head quickly” if they show up to vote, adding, “if I see any of them I’ll kill them,” the complaint said.
A public defender listed for Carillo did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia indicated in a statement Monday that Carillo’s actions went beyond political discourse.
“Open political discourse is a cornerstone of our American experience,” Kavanaugh said. “We can disagree. We can argue and we can debate. However, when those disagreements cross the line to threats of violence, law enforcement must step in.”
Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have also been the subject of social media threats. Last month, a Florida man was charged with written threats to kill Trump and Vance.
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