A Minnesota man who sprayed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) with apple cider vinegar during a January town hall has been sentenced to 14 months in federal prison.
Anthony James Kazmierczak, 56, received the sentence Thursday in Minneapolis federal court after previously pleading guilty to one count of assaulting a U.S. officer.
U.S. District Judge Joan N. Ericksen also sentenced Kazmierczak to three years of supervised release, which includes an order barring him from contacting Omar, according to The Associated Press.
The attack occurred Jan. 27 during an official town hall hosted by Omar in north Minneapolis.
Federal prosecutors said Kazmierczak was seated in the front row before suddenly standing, approaching Omar and spraying liquid from a syringe in her direction.
“She’s not resigning. You’re splitting Minnesotans apart,” Kazmierczak shouted during the incident, according to court records cited by the Justice Department.
The liquid landed on Omar’s jacket, face and hand. Laboratory testing later determined that it was a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar containing acetic acid.
Omar was not injured and resumed the town hall after security officers tackled Kazmierczak and police took him into custody.
As officers approached him following the attack, Kazmierczak acknowledged what he had done, telling police, “I squirted vinegar,” according to the Justice Department.
Kazmierczak pleaded guilty May 7 and admitted that he had planned the attack because he disagreed with Omar’s political views.
Prosecutors said evidence showed the incident was not spontaneous.
Kazmierczak obtained a ticket to Omar’s town hall weeks beforehand and sent messages to several people suggesting he planned to do something at the event without explaining exactly what he intended to do, per PBS News.
Authorities also said he arranged for someone to care for his dog and sought contact information for a bail bond company before attending the meeting.
“This wasn’t a spur of the moment act,” Ericksen said during sentencing, according to the AP.
The judge said an attack on a public official was not a legitimate form of political expression and emphasized that spraying an unknown substance at an elected official could cause fear regardless of whether the substance ultimately proved dangerous.
Kazmierczak apologized to Omar during the hearing.
“I really apologize to her for having put her through that,” he said, according to the AP.
His attorney told the court that Kazmierczak has Parkinson’s disease and had struggled with mental health and medical issues. The defense argued that he had not been taking prescribed mental health medication before the incident.
Prosecutors, however, pointed to the advance preparations as evidence that Kazmierczak had planned his actions.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen characterized the incident as political violence and said federal prosecutors would pursue cases involving attacks on elected officials.
“This defendant chose to assault a Member of Congress instead of resorting to the ballot box,” Rosen said in a statement.
The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Minneapolis Police Department.
Omar, who has represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District since 2019, did not suffer physical injuries in the attack.
