Arizona man arrested over alleged death threats to Trump
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An Arizona man has been detained after he allegedly made several social media threats to kill former president Donald Trump.
Ronald Syvrud, 66, made the threats over the last few weeks, a spokesperson for Cochise County told CNN. The spokesperson didn’t say which platform Syvrud used to make the threats.
The Benson resident has several outstanding warrants, including DUI charges, felony hit and run, as well as failing to register as a sex offender, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
The Sheriff’s office added on the social media platform as a “public safety consideration” that “Syvrud is being sought as an investigative lead for threats to kill a presidential candidate.”
Later on Thursday, they said Syvrud “has been taken into custody without incident in Cochise County.”
Trump visited the US-Mexico border in the county on Thursday to deliver remarks on immigration.
The former president was asked about the man who allegedly made threats against him during his speech at the border. While he said he hadn’t known that the Secret Service was looking into the man, Trump said he was “not that surprised.”
“I’ve heard it’s dangerous, but I also have a job to do… I haven’t heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me,” he added, according to CNN. “I have heard it was very unsafe to make this trip, there were some people that really didn’t want me to make it.”
The arrest comes just six weeks after the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania when his ear was grazed by a bullet from the rifle of gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20. One rally attendee was killed and two others were injured in the shooting. Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told DailyMail.com before Trump’s border speech and the arrest of the suspect that security had been increased because of the threats and he noted that the speech was taking place in an “open venue.”
“We have zero tolerance for any kind of threats or intents of violence, so we’ll find him. He’ll go to jail,” Dannels told the outlet earlier on Thursday. “He’s a registered sex offender here in Cochise County, and we were looking for him. He’s out of compliance as part of his violations. So we’re looking for him on that.”
“We’re going to arrest him on that. But also the fact his pulse was obviously directed toward this event. So we want to talk to him about that,” he added.
The Independent has contacted Sheriff Dannels for comment.
Trump arrived at the southern border just after 12pm on Thursday, meeting with Cochise County officials at the border wall. His team was made aware of the search for Syvrud before his arrival, according to CNN. The US Secret Service is investigating the suspect.
The former president began his remarks by blasting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking to the press surrounded by law enforcement officials and families of victims of crimes by people who crossed the border unlawfully, according to the Arizona Republic.
Calling Harris a “Marxist,” Trump falsely claimed the Vice President wants “open borders.”
Trump spoke at an area where the border wall remains unfinished, pointing to pieces of the wall piled up at the scene.
“It could have been put up in a matter of weeks,” he claimed, saying that it was the “Rolls-Royce” of walls.
