Scott MacFarlane of NBC 4 in Washington, D.C., reported Monday that a Virginia man had been jailed for threatening to shoot members of Congress, apparently as part of an “inartful” campaign for stronger gun control measures.
EXCLUSIVE: Tweets to US Senators Land Virginia Man in Jail https://t.co/TtL9EYhkpB
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 28, 2016
Kyler Schmitz’s fiancé, Paul Cianciolo, told News 4 that Schmitz, an Uber driver, admitted to sending the threatening tweets in the days following the Orlando terrorist attack, but maintains they were sent as “parody” and satire.
Though Schmitz tweeted, “I can’t wait to shoot you in the face one by one,” his defense attorney called the tweets to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and other lawmakers “inartful political discourse” on the issue of gun control.
“I don’t know how to read these tweets in any way but as threatening,” a judge ruled.
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