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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
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A Florida man was detained and accused by the U.S. Secret Service of making threats against President Donald Trump online, including a challenge to fight the president nude to death.
Authorities had to step in after 42-year-old Kendal Aaron Todd posted a video to his social media page that featured perplexing tirades about the president and alarming conduct.
“Donald Trump has personally made business decisions which have hurt so many different reincarnated Jesuses. Because of Donald Trump, every single person in the world is cursed. Donald Trump is the Antichrist. Fight me naked to the death! I’m going to cut you up with a chainsaw and put you in acid,” Todd said in the 80-second video, which has since been taken down.
Florida officials said Todd’s behavior was a red flag.
“He just kept escalating his behavior. He got the attention obviously of the United States Secret Service, and that got our attention,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro said.
Del Toro stated that his deputies had been monitoring Todd for more than a week due to concerns about his mental health.
According to Del Toro, when they attempted to talk to him at home, he became hostile, wouldn’t open the door, and threatened to use violence.
“No matter what political party you’re on, violence in the political arena is never the right thing. And we’ve had attempts on our president’s life before, and we’re not taking any chances, and so we’re going to investigate those. The full weight of the sheriff’s office was going to investigate that,” Del Toro said.
He was thus taken into custody by a SWAT team from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the U.S. Secret Service. Todd is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail on a charge of Written Threat to Kill or Do Bodily Harm.
His bond is set at $500,000.
Trump had two attempts on his life in 2024 at the height of the presidential election.
On July 13, 2024, he was shot and wounded while he was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The second incident occurred on September 15, 2024, when the Secret Service discovered a man hiding in nearby shrubbery and aiming a rifle. Trump was sped off his golf course in Palm Beach after the Secret Service found the man.
Per the documents submitted to the court on March 11, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office submitted a petition for a risk protection order and requested permission from a judge to remove any weapons in Todd’s possession.
In the record, it is stated that Todd had been involved in a “recent act or threat of violence against themselves or others,” and that he “may be seriously mentally ill or may have recurring mental health issues.”
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Deputies also took note of the fact that a relative of Todd’s reported that he had “suicide by cop ideations” and that he had been treated under Florida’s Baker Act nine months earlier, in December 2023.
According to the Baker Act, which is also known as the Florida Mental Health Act, individuals who suffer from mental illness are permitted to be detained, either voluntarily or involuntarily, in a mental health facility for a period of up to three days if it is determined that they pose a risk to themselves or to other individuals.
As a result of the Mass Shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in March 2018, the state of Florida passed a law known as the Red Flag Law. This law allows law enforcement to petition a judge to temporarily seize firearms from individuals who exhibit warning signs of violence, such as the shooter who took the lives at Parkland High School.
On March 11th, the judge granted permission for the moving against Todd. Regarding the matter, a hearing was scheduled to take place on March 24.