Man charged after allegedly threatening to kill people at Minnesota Capitol
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A northern Minnesota man faces two felony charges after allegedly threatening to kill people at the state Capitol earlier this week.
John David Tobias, 58, of Park Rapids, was charged Wednesday with two counts of threats of violence in Hubbard County District Court. He remained in the Hubbard County Jail on Thursday morning.
According to a criminal complaint:
On Monday, Republican state Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen was tagged in a Facebook comment from an account with the name “John Tobias,” who claimed that Walz had cost him $1.4 million because of the “unconstitutional COVID shutdown.”
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“I want it now or I’m going to do my constitutional duty and kill everyone of you,” the comment read, according to the complaint.
The State Patrol was notified about the comment.
The State Patrol also was notified on Tuesday that a person identifying themselves as “John Tobias” called the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and said he would like something done about Walz “unconstitutionally” shutting down the state during the pandemic. According to the complaint, the caller said he lost $1.4 million — and that if he did not get it back, he would “come down” and “execute” everyone in the Capitol buildings.
The employee who took the call told the Patrol that the caller scared her. “The employee said that she was concerned that Tobias was going to do something like he had stated in his threats,” the complaint states.
Authorities allegedly linked the “John Tobias” from the Facebook comment and call to John David Tobias from Park Rapids. The State Patrol contacted the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office, who knew of Tobias from a previous threats investigation.
Tobias allegedly admitted to investigators that he posted the Facebook comment and made the call to the Attorney General’s Office. “Tobias said he did not have any intention of killing anyone, but admitted he was trying to get people’s attention,” the complaint states.
A search of his home turned up nine guns and 45 boxes of ammunition.
Tobias is due back in court on Monday.
New security measures are in place at the Minnesota Capitol this legislative session, including weapons scanners at all public entrances. That’s after the shootings last June that killed former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and injured Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
