A man in suburban Chicago, Illinois was arrested Monday after threatening to kill President Donald Trump.
Federal authorities took 57-year-old Trent Schneider of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, into custody and charged him with making a threat in interstate commerce to injure a person, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said. Schneider made his initial court appearance in Chicago and a judge ordered him detained pending a detention hearing set for Nov. 6.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court, Schneider uploaded an Instagram video on Oct. 16 in which he threatened violence and said he planned to obtain firearms.
In the video he told viewers he was “going to take care of business myself,” and said people “need to die” and that Trump “should be executed,” investigators allege. The post’s caption reportedly included a reference to a November 4 auction date and repeated the call for the president to be executed.
A member of the public in Florida viewed the post and reported it to law enforcement, prompting a protective-intelligence investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, prosecutors said.
Winthrop Harbor police assisted the Secret Service and the Lake County Tactical Response Team in serving a search and arrest warrant at Schneider’s home on the 2800 block of 15th Street. Police did not disclose what, if anything, was seized during the search.
In a statement, Winthrop Harbor police said the operation was part of an ongoing Secret Service investigation and “is not related to any immigration enforcement actions.” The department added that although there was a heavy law enforcement presence in the neighborhood during the operation, “there is no danger to the public.”
Winthrop Harbor is a small Lake County village near the Wisconsin border on the shore of Lake Michigan. Federal prosecutors will pursue the case in the Northern District of Illinois; making interstate threats carries serious federal penalties. Authorities have emphasized that tips from concerned citizens can be crucial in identifying and preventing potential threats.
