As Twitchy reported on Sunday, a Twitter user who goes by the handle @kyle__kyle threatened to assassinate Mitt Romney. The user later removed his tweets, claiming that the threats were only a joke.
It turns out that the person who made the threats is, in fact, a 15-year-old boy named Kyle Stusse. After Twitchy broke the story, Stusse faced a backlash over his vile tweets and was apparently contacted by the Secret Service. A death threat is a death threat, and regardless of Stusse’s age, it deserves to be taken seriously. One of Stusse’s friends disagreed:
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255305076845993984
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255349455639961600
And he mounted a #FreeKyle hashtag campaign to defend Stusse:
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255308626988761088
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255308701836132352
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255309134386323457
The hashtag quickly gathered steam, and others followed suit:
Free Kyle
— Dan Self (@DANthemanSELF) October 8, 2012
https://twitter.com/connquor/status/255406454436147201
— Perry (@Pear__E) October 8, 2012
https://twitter.com/noMOEHRals/status/255454894507577344
Lovely.
https://twitter.com/TheDouch/status/255454743529406464
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255455463989211136
https://twitter.com/TheDouch/status/255455493919760384
F R E E. K Y L E
— Perry (@Pear__E) October 8, 2012
https://twitter.com/AlyssaGoober/status/255456773392171008
— Erick Vargas (@E_Vargas125) October 8, 2012
https://twitter.com/TheDouch/status/255456402196283392
#FreeKyle @kyle__kyle #retweet
— AD (@AustanDaniels02) October 9, 2012
https://twitter.com/connquor/status/255458350924443648
Free my man kyle!!#freekyle
— Ty Lay (@squeakscolari_) October 9, 2012
#FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle #FreeKyle
— Wayde (@Waydeaminute) October 9, 2012
https://twitter.com/KIT_KATi/status/255464056725585920
https://twitter.com/JacobWilcoxen1/status/255469978302693376
https://twitter.com/noMOEHRals/status/255457507466674176
Stusse, for his part, insists that he has learned his lesson — the hard way:
i was only joking about my romney comments, i know now that they are serious and should not be put on twitter even as a joke…
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
i dont take national security as a joke now. dont kill me please.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
never in my life will i ever take the tinyest fraction of a step toward any of the U.S goverment officials with viloent intentions. NEVER
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
never had any tru baad feelings toward romney. just want Obama to win, thats all.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
I am 15 and pose no real threat to anybody.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
@wildpitchisab I am no real threat, I made a joke. I now realize that the joke is serious and should bot br put on twitter.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
@wildpitchisab I already said it was a joke and I do not have any real threats to anyone. This has no concern for you please stay out of it.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
@AltConservative I didn't even think it would be a big deal. I now know this is serious and should not be joked about.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
@AltConservative I never had any real intentions of even attempting to harm anyone. My tweets were bit serious.
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
@kyle__kyle @AltConservative not* not serious
— kyle stusse (@younglyle3) October 8, 2012
The road to maturity is clearly a very long one for Stusse. And while his contrition is likely genuine (it’s amazing what a reality check can do), he needs to understand that actions have consequences — at any age.
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Related:
#FUCKROMNEY: Hate and death threats greet Romney’s RNC speech
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