A New Hampshire man faces up to 10 years in prison after threatening to kill a United States senator because he was angry that the senator was “blocking military advances,” according to federal court documents. ,” according to federal court documents.
The The US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire announced Brian Landry, 66, of Franklin, NH, was charged Friday with assault, kidnapping or threatening to kill a United States official.
According to court documents, Mr. Landry called a senator’s district field office on May 17 and left a threatening voicemail message. The senator who was threatened by Mr. Landry was not named in the court documents, which stated only that the senator has been in office since January 2021.
“Hey idiot, I’m an experienced sniper,” Mr. Landy said in the voice mail. “Unless you change your ways, I’ve pointed in your direction and I’m coming to get you. You are a dead man,” he added, adding some confusion.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, investigators traced Mr. Landry based on a telephone number associated with the message. When Mr. Landry was interviewed by investigators, he admitted he had called the senator’s office, although he initially said he did not remember what he said in the message, according to court documents.
During the interview, Mr. Landry told investigators he was “very upset with certain politicians over their handling of important rights programs for veterans,” according to the criminal complaint.
Mr. Landry later told investigators that he called the senator’s office because he heard the senator was “blocking military promotions,” the criminal complaint said.
Mr. Landry is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire on July 12, according to court documents. If convicted, Mr. Landry faces up to 10 years in prison, with three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $250,000.
A lawyer for Mr. Landry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Threats to elected officials, politicians and their families have increased in recent years as violent political speech has become more prevalent. Such threats, delivered via voicemail messages and social media, have sometimes become more concrete, as happened last June, when a man armed with a pistol, a knife and other weapons said he had killed Justice. traveled to the house of Brett M. Cavanaugh intends to kill a Supreme Court Justice. In October, a man broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco and beat her husband with a hammer, fracturing his skull.
While federal prosecutors did not identify the senator targeted, the promotions of senior military commanders took place in the Senate as they were engulfed in debate over abortion policy after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
