An Army veteran from Illinois faces prison time after he allegedly threatened to shoot a congressman's “head off” over claims that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, the Associated Press reports. Randall Tarr allegedly left a threatening voicemail with Rep. Rodney Davis’ (R-IL) local office in late November, saying that he was a “sharpshooter” and that he would “like to shoot your (expletive) head off.” The 64-year-old reportedly was angered after he saw a commercial that featured Davis claiming the Ukrainians were responsible for 2016 election interference, and he allegedly yelled at Davis for “backing the Russians over our own intelligence” in the voicemail. The message was forwarded to U.S. Capitol Police, who asked the Rochester Police Department to locate Tarr. Cops apprehended Tarr at his residence, and noted that he owned no firearms.
“I said I had been a sharpshooter in the Army. I didn’t realize I said anything about shooting him. I might have. I don’t even own a weapon,” Tarr told the AP on Friday after being released by officials. “I wish I could just take it all back and just say he’s a lousy (expletive) for backing the Russian theory.” He is due in court on Dec. 17, and is facing one count of communication of a threat to injure a person and one count of making a threat to a federal official. Each charge has a maximum sentence of five and 10 years, respectively.
Read it at Associated Press