Armed Arizona man arrested and charged over multiple death threats posted against Trump and his family
President-elect Donald Trump survived at least two publicly known assassination attempts over the summer, and amid countless threats against his safety and well-being may have just avoided a possible third attempt to take his life.
An Arizona man was recently arrested and charged for posting videos on social media in which he brandished firearms and threatened to kill Trump and members of his family, according to National Review.
Manuel Tamayo-Torres, a previously convicted felon who is federally barred from possessing firearms, is now facing federal charges for making threats to assassinate a president as well as lying on a federal gun purchase form.
Multiple threats against Trump and his family
Over a span of several months both before and after the election, according to NBC News, Tamayo-Torres is alleged by federal prosecutors to have posted threats and leveled bizarre accusations against President-elect Trump and his family on a "near-daily basis."
Some of those accusations, which were mentioned in multiple threatening videos, included that Trump, members of his family, and even Secret Service agents had kidnapped and sex-trafficked his children -- though it is unclear if the man actually has any children.
In his most recent video posted just prior to his arrest, Tamayo-Torres brandished an AR-15-style rifle with a standard capacity 30-round magazine and, amid racial epithets and explicit language, said of Trump, "you’re gonna die," "your son’s gonna die," and "your whole family is going to die," among other things.
He further asserted, "You’re a low-life scum. I’ll spit in your f--king face motherf--ker, and if they give me a chance, I’m going to f--king bury you myself."
One threatening video made right outside a Trump rally in Arizona
Arguably most concerning of all, per National Review, is the fact that one of Tamayo-Torres' threatening videos was filmed and posted on Aug. 23 right outside an ongoing Trump campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
That was reminiscent of the first known assassination attempt against Trump earlier this summer in July, when a would-be assassin perched on a rooftop overlooking a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, opened fire with a rifle and struck the former and future president in the ear while killing one rally-goer and severely wounding two others before counter snipers killed him.
Just a couple of months later, Trump narrowly dodged a second known assassination attempt when Secret Service agents spotted and forced to flee a man armed with a rifle who'd been waiting in some bushes to ambush Trump on his South Florida golf course near his Mar-a-Lago resort residence.
A convicted felon prohibited from possessing firearms
According to Fox News, Tamayo-Torres was a previously convicted felon who was prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms, given that he had served six years in prison in California after he was found guilty of assault in 2003, as well as that his ex-wife had obtained a restraining order against him last year in Arizona.
Yet, despite being barred from purchasing or possessing guns, Tamayo-Torres is alleged to have twice attempted to buy firearms from a gun store in Phoenix in 2023, during which he falsely denied on the federal gun purchase form that he'd ever been convicted of a felony or was subject to a restraining order.
As such, in addition to a single count of making threats against a president, he also faces four charges of making false statements during a firearm purchase, per NBC News.
Tamayo-Torres was arrested on Monday near San Diego, California, but is expected to be extradited to Arizona, as that is where the alleged crimes occurred and where federal prosecutors filed the charges.