Man sentenced to 1 year in prison for threatening to "put a bullet" in Ilhan Omar's skull
The New-York man who was convicted of threatening to kill Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in a hate-filled phone call was sentenced Friday to one year and a day in prison. Patrick W. Carlineo Jr., 56, pleaded guilty in November 2019 to threatening to assault and murder a U.S. official, and to being a felon in possession of firearms. His charges carried up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Carlineo admitted to calling Omar's office in Washington, D.C., in April 2019 and telling one of her staffers "I'll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull."
"Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood?" he asked the staffer, according to prosecutors. "Why are you working for her, she's a (expletive) terrorist... Back in the day, our forefathers would have put a bullet in her (expletive)."
Carlineo made the threatening call to retaliate against Congresswoman Omar "because he hates individuals he views as radical Muslims being in the United States government," according to prosecutors.
The Minnesota lawmaker asked for compassion in his sentencing in November:
"The answer to hate is not more hate; it is compassion," she said. "Punishing the defendant with a lengthy prison sentence or a financial fine would not rehabilitate him. It would not repair the harm he has caused. It would only increase his anger and resentment."
Omar is Somali-American and is the first woman to wear a hijab in the U.S. Congress. In July 2019, she was one of four congresswomen who President Trump said should "go back" to the countries they came from.