“I’m going to shoot you in the head for allowing someone to murder my loved ones.”From: NewNowNext
A gay man from Virginia has been ordered to stay off Twitter after making death threats to several Republican congressmen in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Kyler Schmitz was arrested in June after tweeting “I’m going to shoot you in the head for allowing someone to murder my loved ones.”
Schmitz, 28, was indicted this month on five counts of making interstate threatening communications.
Using the Twitter handle @Chirperson, he also tweeted “I am literally going to buy a gun shoot you in the face I watch your brains splat #BangBangByeBitch” and “I can’t wait to shoot you in the face one by one.”
Investigators say Schmitz also talked to another Twitter user about purchasing a gun.
Among the politicians tagged was anti-gay Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has voted to lower waiting periods for gun owners and to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
The tweets came two days after 49 victims were killed by Omar Mateen, reviving the issues of gun control and anti-LGBT violence.
Paul Cianciolo, Schmitz’s fiance, said the tweets were never meant to be taken seriously. “[It was] satire, it wasn’t him as a real person— it was just a character playing out, like in a book.”
But the judge insisted there was no way “to read these tweets in any way but as threatening.”
Earlier this month, Schmitz was released to home detention while awaiting trial, with the stipulations that he stay in his house, stays off Twitter and avoids any contact with congressional representatives.
A plea bargain hearing has been scheduled for later this month.
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