Dover man charged with threatening to kill presidential candidate at campaign stop

CONCORD - A Dover man has been arrested and charged in connection with sending text messages that threatened presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy and attendees at a campaign event scheduled to take place in Portsmouth.

Tyler Anderson, 30, was charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another, according to a statement sent today by the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Anderson will make an initial appearance in federal court Concord today at 2:30 p.m.

According to the charging documents, Anderson received a text message from the victim's campaign notifying him of a political event in Portsmouth. Anderson responded to the text message on Dec 8 by stating: "Great, another opportunity for me to blow his brains out!" and "I'm going to kill everyone who attends and then f*** their corpses."

The charge provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

The FBI led the investigation with assistance from the Dover and Portsmouth Police Departments.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.