A New York man who threatened to assault and murder Rep. Ilhan Omar is now in custody, CNN reports.
Patrick W. Carlineo Jr. was arrested and charged for threatening to kill Omar due to her Muslim faith, according to an affidavit obtained by the outlet. A Democrat, Omar was elected as a U.S. Representative for Minnesota during the 2018 midterms and is one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress.
Per the affidavit, a call was made to Omar’s Washington D.C. office on March 21. The person on the phone identified himself as Pat Carlineo and told a staff member, “Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she's a (expletive) terrorist. I'll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull.”
Omar’s office told the U.S. Capitol Police about the incident and an investigation with the FBI ensued. While Carlineo sounded angry during the phone call, he provided an accurate spelling of his name and contact information, the affidavit stated.
Authorities subsequently tracked him down and interviewed him, where he declared himself to be a patriot and declared his love for Donald Trump. He also said, “that he hates radical Muslims in our government.”
He first alleged that he’d told Omar’s office, “If our forefathers were still alive, they'd put a bullet in her head.” When he was shown the quote that Omar’s office had given, where he called Omar a “terrorist,” he denied saying it. However, he later confessed that he may have said something like that, though wasn’t sure.
Carlineo is currently being held while he awaits a detention hearing on Wednesday, theElmira Star Gazette reports.
