A Casa Grande man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after he threatened to assassinate then-presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris during the 2024 election.
Rene Ortiz, 56, delivered a written threat to the federal courthouse in Phoenix on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, that stated, "execute the newly elected [President of the United States] by firing an M-16A2 service rifle with a magazine of 6 rounds,” according to a U.S. Attorney's Office news release.
The threat was directed at both former Vice President Harris and President Trump. But on Nov. 25, days after the election, Ortiz delivered a second threat to the federal courthouse in Tucson, according to the release.
In that threat, Ortiz said he would shoot
“the incoming fraudulent elected [President of the United States] … at the inauguration on January 20th, 2025," the release stated.
When the U.S. Secret Service interviewed Ortiz about the threats, he repeated his intent to make the threats. He was subsequently arrested Jan. 17, 2025, and was convicted by a federal jury June 8 of two felony violations of making threats against successors to the presidency and one felony violation of making threats against former presidents, according to the release.
Ortiz was sentenced Oct. 20 to 38 months in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona man sentenced to prison for threats against Trump, Harris
