A Cape Coral man faces charges, accused of making a threat to Republican Congressman Byron Donalds and saying that he would bomb and shoot law enforcement officers.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested 43-year-old Daniel Eberly on Monday, June 1 after they said he called Donalds’ office and “threatened to blow up headquarters and shoot every cop,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said at a press conference.
Donalds, of Naples, was first elected to the seat in 2021 and is running for Florida governor in the November election.
“Eberly was erratic on the telephone and his statements raised immediate concerns not only for the safety of Congressman Donalds and his staff, but also for the safety of our deputies and the public at large,” Marceno said.
The Lee County sheriff said that detectives began investigating the call immediately and found Eberly at his home in Cape Coral, on Northeast 15th Avenue.
Eberly was charged with falsely reporting a threat to do violent harm and corruption by threat of a public servant.
“The men and women behind these badges protect this community everyday,” Marceno said.
“If you threaten them, don’t be surprised when the full weight of law comes knocking on your door.”
Marceno said that there was no law enforcement agency whose headquarters Eberly had threatened in particular, and that it was just a threat made to a “headquarter” with no other specification. Donalds has offices in Washington DC, Naples and Cape Coral.
A motivation was not specified by Marceno, but that every threat the sheriff’s office receives reports of is deemed credible and will be treated as such, he said.
And if the sheriff’s office does not treat every threat in this way, there is a risk of “someone being killed.”
“And that’s not going to happen, not on our watch,” Marceno said.
Eberly has a history of prior criminal charges in Lee County, including a previous incident of threatening to kill or seriously harm a law enforcement officer in 2023. In that case, he pleaded no contest and the case has since been closed.
“This is not a political issue…This is a human issue,” Marceno said.
“I don’t care what political party, when you threaten someone, we’re not going to tolerate it.”
Eberly remains in custody at the Lee County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. His bond has been set at $200,000. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 6.
Tayeba Hussein is a breaking news reporter for The News-Press & Naples Daily News. Reach her at thussein@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: ‘Shoot every cop’: Cape Coral man arrested over threat to congressman
Reporting by Tayeba Hussein, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
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