A Jacksonville man now faces federal charges after a US Secret Service agent said he threatened to kill former Vice President Kamala Harris in comments he posted to Tik Tok.
According to a recent criminal complaint, on February 11th and 12th, a Tik-Tok account belonging to 59-year-old Franklin Jarrell posted a comment in response to a video of the former VP.
It said, in part, “I will take a sniper rifle and blow her head off like they’re trying to do with Trump.”
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In that post, the complaint says Jarrell added:
“I cant stand m* like that and I don’t give a f what anybody thinks bring you’re a** down to Jacksonville Florida and we will kill you’re a** we don’t play come down south…”
When a special agent with the Secret Service reached out to Jarrell over the phone about the threats, the complaint says Jarrell told the agent he could say “whatever he wanted” because of his “First Amendment right.” The agent explained to him free speech does not include “terroristic threats” and that threatening to kill the former vice president was a federal crime.
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Jarrell then proceeded to make racist comments about the former VP and threatened to assault that agent according to the report, saying he has a house full of guns and that the agent would “find out.”
Dale Carson, a former FBI agent and law & safety expert told Action News Jax Friday that the threat against investigators could play a key role in the severity of future sentencing.
“Every action of a defendant in a criminal case has a bearing on what the courts think, what the jurors think, how the case can be defended and how it can be prosecuted,” Carson explained.
Jarrell is charged with sending a threatening communication in interstate commerce and making threats against a federal officer. He is being held without bond with a court date of Tuesday, March 11th at 9 a.m.
Read: Man who said he was upset with Musk and Trump charged with threatening to burn down xAI facility
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