Massachusetts man accused of making death threats against McCain
Aug 9, 2018, 3:58 PM | Updated: 9:12 pm
(AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
PHOENIX — A Massachusetts man was accused of allegedly making death threats against U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on an online social media platform.
Brandon Ziobrowski, 33, was arrested on Thursday and charged in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on one count of using interstate commerce to transmit a threat to injure another.
According to court documents, Ziobrowski allegedly used his Twitter account, @Vine_II, to “repeatedly [tweet] his desire to ‘slit’ Senator John McCain’s throat.”
Ziobrowski was also accused of threatening law enforcement agencies on his Twitter account starting in February.
He allegedly tweeted that guns should “only be legal for shooting the police like the second amendment intended” and that he would “literally give $500 to anyone who shoots and kills an [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agent.”
Court documents claimed Ziobrowski’s “murder-for-hire solicitation” of ICE agents “was designed to encourage violence and the murder of law enforcement agents who were simply enforcing federal laws.”
Ziobrowski allegedly “intended that his tweet communicate[d] a threat and knew it would be interpreted as a threat.” His Twitter account was suspended in July.
Ziobrowski could get up to five years in prison if he is convicted. He was expected to make his first appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday.