A Tennessee man has been charged with two counts of making threats against the president, the Justice Department announced Thursday night.
According to the DOJ, 37-year-old Andrew Long Ryan of Greenbrier, Tenn., was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in regard to a string of threatening social media messages he posted on May 28 and 29, while President Trump was visiting Nashville.
Ryan, a former Bowling Green police officer, wrote “Death is coming,” on Facebook and tweeted that he “will kill Donald Trump if you don’t follow my leaders lead.”
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, and the Greenbriar Police Department.
In addition to the threats on social media, law enforcement authorities also investigated “Ryan’s declining mental state and threatening behavior during the past several months, including placing family members in fear of their safety and previous incidents where he drew the attention of local law enforcement.”
He was originally taken into custody in early June by the Robertson County Sheriff’s Department after violating a protective order obtained by his family.
A February search of his home yielded several firearms, and law enforcement reportedly considered him capable of enacting “mass violence.”
Ryan is facing a five-year prison sentence if convicted of the charges. U.S. attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee is prosecuting the case.
Earlier in 2018, a Utah man was indicted on 11 charges of threatening to kill the president during Trump’s visit to Salt Lake City.
33-year-old Travis Luke Dominguez alerted the Unified Police Department of the Greater Salt Lake of his threat himself, writing via their tip line he “woke up and decided to kill the president Donald Trump today.”
“Please forgive me and then I will die by suicide by cop,” he continued before doubling down on killing “the sexist, racist, homophobic President Trump today.”
“Nothing you can do to save President Trump nor stop me pigs,” he wrote and threatened to harm any police officers who might try to stop him.
