Police said they’ve arrested a Florida man suspected of being a white supremacist. He was allegedly threatening to shoot up a Walmart a day after a gunman killed nearly two dozen people at one of the superstores in El Paso, Texas.
Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested the 26-year-old from Winter Park, Florida, on Friday. With the charges of making written threats last week to kill or do bodily harm, according to the department.
Police said Richard Clayton allegedly posted his threat on Facebook on Aug. 4, a day after a white supremacist fatally shot at least 22 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart in El Paso. A border town with a large Hispanic population.
According to investigators, the post read, “3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don’t go to Walmart next week.” The FBI received a tip about the post on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
When police arrived at Clayton’s parents’ home, the suspect repeatedly asked an officer if he was Hispanic, saying, “They are what is wrong with this country. They come in and are ruining everything,” court documents show, according to WKMG-TV.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched a joint investigation with the Winter Park Police Department and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Clayton is currently being held at the Orange County Jail on $15,000 bond, according to ABC News. His case is the latest in a series of cases where police have tracked down domestic terror threats.
Police arrested a 20-year-old man at a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, on Thursday and charged him with making a terrorist threat in the second degree. Dmitriy Andreychenko said he was conducting a social experiment when he caused panic at the Walmart by wearing a ballistic vest and carrying a loaded rifle just days after two mass shootings.
On Thursday, police arrested a 23-year-old Las Vegas man, who is now facing a federal weapons charge. Authorities said he discussed making explosives and was planning an attack on a local synagogue and an LGBTQ bar. The Justice Department said Conor Climo promoted white supremacy and communicated with people who identified with a white supremacist extremist organization.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate last month that white supremacy was responsible for the majority of the FBI’s domestic terror-related cases this year.
Trump blamed the El Paso attack on white supremacy, among other issues, though he has refused to acknowledge his role in promoting those ideas himself. A manifesto authorities believe the El Paso shooting suspect wrote echoed Trump’s own racist rhetoric.
