A Columbus man is facing federal charges after he allegedly threatened to shoot and kill federal immigration agents on his X account.
The suspect, a 21-year-old man from Columbus’ West Side, faces charges of threatening to kill a federal officer and making threatening interstate communications, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
The suspect appeared Jan. 22 in federal court in Columbus. US. Magistrate Judge Chelsey Vascura ordered him held in pretrial detention.
Prosecutors said that Homeland Security Investigations received information in December 2025 regarding threats to ICE agents that were being made on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. Investigators found that in June 2025, the suspect allegedly posted “they should blast every ice agent they find,” the release said.
In November 2025, the suspect allegedly posted “can’t wait to shoot these [vulgarity] ice agents…,” according to the news release.
Court records say federal investigators got a search warrant for the X account, which was tied to the phone number and email address of the suspect. Additional records from the suspect’s home internet provider showed someone using that IP address was accessing the suspect’s X account at the time the posts were made.
Additional search warrants found more posts the suspect is alleged to have made containing anti-Semitic comments and denying the Holocaust.
“Hitler was right,” one of the posts read.
“I’d join Hamas too. These filthy [expletive] subhuman rats deserve to be gassed and executed,” another post read.
Federal agents executed a search warrant at the suspect’s residence in December 2025 and seized several firearms, including two rifles, two shotguns, a handgun, and ammunition. The suspect also had two helmets and body armor, according to the media release. The suspect also had a Palestinian flag hanging in his room, according to photos included in court records.
After he was arrested, the suspect agreed to talk to investigators and allegedly told them: “Alright, you got me. That was me,” court records say.
“Damn so Elon [Musk] does give you access” to past X posts, court records say the suspect also told investigators.
Reporter Bethany Bruner contributed to this story.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Federal charges for Columbus man accused of threatening ICE agents
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
