The murder of Charlie Kirk was followed by a series of arrests in the United States for threats of alleged violence in response to the assassination of the conservative activist.
A man from Texas who, according to the authorities, has expressed his support for Charlie Kirk, faces federal accusations after pretending to be threatened online this month to shoot a parade of pride in Abilene, as a revenge.
In El Paso, a woman is accused of criminal fire after having tried, according to the authorities, to burn a church and have left threatening messages in the place where a vigil was going to be organized in honor of Charlie Kirk.
The police and minnesota police have carried out similar arrests.
Social networks ignited in the days which followed the death of Charlie Kirk, on September 10, with people crying his loss – some expressing their disagreement with his ideological positions, but supporting his right to express them – as well as people celebrating his disappearance.
Alex Del Carmen, criminologist and professor at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, said that the multiplication of threats after the murder of Charlie Kirk was “dangerous and counterproductive”.
“The first amendment even protects hard and unpopular remarks, but he does not protect legitimate threats,” said Del Carmen. When people cross this limit, responsibility is essential, as is empathy towards mourning. »»
In Abilene, an agent of the FBI questioned the man, who would have admitted having published these messages and being in possession of a firearm, but would have denied wanting to act or shoot the participants, according to the declaration under oath. The parade took place without incident the day after his arrest.
In a case in Minnesota, in the same county where the former president of the Minnesota House of Representatives and her husband were murdered this summer, a man was charged with four terrorist threat counts after the authorities said that he had qualified Charlie Kirk as a “friend” and threatened with violence several people.
“These threats are frightening and extremely explicit,” said Mary Moriarty, a prosecutor of the county of Hennepin, Minnesota, in a press release. We will not tolerate any threat of violence of a political nature and will do everything in our power so that those who utter them respond to their actions. »»
In Utah, a Pennsylvanian was arrested for threats of terrorism after the authorities said he had published a threatening video targeting the University of the Utah Valley, where Charlie Kirk was killed.
