Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was targeted by a “heavily armed” man threatening to harm Jewish members of the state government, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court on Wednesday.
Jack Eugene Carpenter III is accused of tweeting various threats against Nessel and other public officials on Feb. 17. He’s been charged with using interstate communications to make a threat of injury or death.
“I’m heading back to Michigan now threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is jewish in the Michigan govt if they don’t leave, or confess, and now that kind of problem. Because I can Legally do that, right?” he allegedly tweeted under the handle @tempered_reason, according to charging documents.
Carpenter allegedly owned three handguns (one of which he allegedly stole from his girlfriend), a 12-gauge shotgun, and two hunting rifles—including a military-style weapon.
The FBI filed the criminal complaint about the threats on Feb. 18.
“The FBI has confirmed I was a target of the heavily armed defendant in this matter,” Nessel announced in a tweet on Thursday morning. “It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes & Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials.”
This threat comes three years after a group of men plotted to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer over the state’s COVID-19 mitigation measures during the peak of the pandemic.
On the morning of Feb. 18, Carpenter allegedly posted a threat to local law enforcement:
“I’ll be coming back to Michigan, still driving with expired plates,” @tempered_reason posted on Twitter. “You may want to let everyone know, and Wayne County sheriff as well, any attempt to subdue me will be met with deadly force in self-defense.”
Read the complaint below:
