An Australian man reportedly received a death threat from alleged New Zealand mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant in 2016, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports. The Melbourne man, who requested he remain anonymous, told the network he received the threat from Tarrant in 2016 after he criticized a far-right group before an “anti-refugee rally.” Over Facebook message, Tarrant reportedly defended the UPF as the “the leading ethno-nationalist group within Australia” and said that insulting the group was insulting his “right to a home for [his] people and [his] culture.” Tarrant also reportedly wrote: “Choose your words carefully” and “think of who you insult.” “I hope you one day see the light and if you are a Marxist I hope you one day meet the rope,” Tarrant reportedly wrote, referring to a white-supremacist novel in which "race traitors" are publicly executed.

The man went to a police station with a copy of the conversation, to alert authorities that Tarrant could be dangerous. The police reportedly told him to block Tarrant on social media and “did not take an official statement” from him. In a statement, Victoria Police said they were unable to locate the complaint made by the man and said that they had “strong arrangements in place” for tracking those who could pose a public threat. Fifty people were killed earlier this year after Tarrant shot up a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.