Casa Grande man sentenced for threatening to kill President Trump, former Vice President Harris

A Casa Grande man was sentenced to more than three years in prison Tuesday after he threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris, officials announced.

U.S. Marine veteran Rene Ortiz, 56, was found guilty in June of two felony counts of threats against successors to the presidency and one count of threats against a former president.

His conviction came after a four-day trial during which Ortiz’s public defender argued the threats were the actions of a mentally ill man who had no intent on carrying them out and posed no real danger. Additionally, a license psychologist testified he suffers from schizoaffective disorder and borderline personality disorder.

What were the threats against President Trump, former Vice President Harris that Ortiz was sentenced for?

On Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, Ortiz hand-delivered a document, signed by him, to the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix  that asked permission to “execute the newly elected POTUS by firing an M-16A2 Service Rifle with a magazine of six rounds,” at whichever candidate won: Harris or Trump.

His threats escalated in a second document delivered to the federal courthouse in Tucson on Nov. 25.

In it, he wrote the he is “entitled to shoot (sic) the incoming fraudulent elected POTUS from 300 or 666 yards away with 666 rounds for an M-12A2 service rifle at the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.”

He also appeared to reference the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in a separate filing that petitioned the court for him to make a shot from 300 or 500 yards away targeting the candidate’s head not their ear.

On Dec. 5, 2024, Ortiz was interview by Secret Service agents and he admitted to making the threats, adding he planned to shoot the president-elect if his demands were not met.

Ortiz explained that he had a grievance with the Department of Veterans Affairs due to the agency promising to pay for his schooling if he quit working there but then failing to reimburse him after he enrolled.

He was arrested on Jan. 17, 2025, just three days before Trump’s inauguration.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s David Iversen contributed to this report. 

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