Michigan AG says she was among those targeted in threat to kill Jewish members of state government
(CNN) - A Michigan man allegedly threatened on social media to kill Jewish members of the Michigan government, the FBI said, and state Attorney General Dana Nessel says she was among those targeted.
On February 18, the FBI National Threat Operations Center told the Detroit FBI office that a person on Twitter by the handle of "TemperedReason" said he was heading to Michigan and "threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is Jewish in the Michigan govt." Any attempt to "subdue" him would "be met with deadly force in self-defense," the user said.
Authorities traced the Twitter handle to a man named Jack Eugene Carpenter III, who had a protection order against him and had previously been arrested by state police, according to the complaint filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Carpenter also had three 9mm handguns registered in Michigan's Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN), the complaint said. One of the guns in his possession Carpenter had "stolen" from his girlfriends, according the complaint.
Authorities said Carpenter violated an interstate communication law, according to the complaint.
Although court documents did not reference Nessel by name, she said in a tweet Thursday that she was among the targets.
"The FBI has confirmed I was a target of the heavily armed defendant in this matter. It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes & Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials," she tweeted.
Her tweet embedded an article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency citing the case.
Carpenter is in custody and has a court appearance scheduled for Friday afternoon, though the attorney general's office said a first appearance could come as early as Thursday.
Carpenter is being represented by a public defender. CNN has reached out to his attorney's office, as well as local and national FBI offices for comment. Nessel's office declined to immediately comment further on the matter.