Texas Man Charged with Online Death Threats
A man from Texas has been charged for making online threats against several prominent Jewish conservative media personalities, including columnist Karol Markowitz, CEO of the Babylon Bee, Seth Dillon, and Newsweek editors Josh Hammer and Laura Loomer.
Nicholas Ray, a resident of Spring, Texas, faces 12 charges in Florida after allegedly posting threats on X under the username @zionistarescum between October 8 and 10, as revealed in a probable cause affidavit.
The affidavit, dated October 18, states that Ray made a threat to hang Loomer from the Capitol and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., claiming she was a “Mossad operative.”
He also made wild accusations against Hammer of plotting with a foreign government to kill someone named Charlie, used racial slurs, labeled Newsweek’s editor-in-chief a “traitor,” and said he “should literally be killed by a firing squad.”
Ray ominously warned, “I’ll definitely take you, maybe not today or tomorrow, but you’re living on borrowed time, and you know it.”
Additionally, both Dillon and Markowitz are accused of “conspiring with Israel” regarding the assassination of someone named Kirk on September 10 and also of “genocide” in Gaza.
Ray further posted warnings that “all four will be killed soon” and that “traitors will be hanged.”
On Tuesday, Loomer shared Ray’s mug shot from Montgomery County Jail in Texas, prior to his extradition to Florida on felony charges.
“He accuses me of being a foreign agent and says I will be killed,” Loomer stated, emphasizing her status as a U.S. citizen and attributing the threats to radicalization fueled by online conspiracy theories.
She noted, “They think they can get away with inciting political violence because they’re using anonymous accounts,” suggesting Ray’s perspective was influenced by various podcasters promoting divisive views.
Dillon commented that he started receiving threats while writing articles for the Free Press. He emphasized that threats should not be an accepted part of working in media, echoing similar sentiments from Markowitz. The latter expressed concern about the normalization of such threats, noting the societal implications and highlighted that Florida’s Attorney General is addressing these issues.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi recently announced that a second individual had been arrested for making death threats against another conservative commentator, Benny Johnson, describing it as a disturbing attempt to emulate Kirk’s murder.
Kirk, who was just 31, was tragically killed during a college debate at Utah Valley University, later being honored posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump.
