A 34-year-old Maryland man was arrested by the FBI after he left a threatening voicemail at the Washington office of Human Rights Campaign, an organization that lobbies for LGBTQ rights, late on the evening of March 28.
The FBI’s statement said the threat was believed to be referencing the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, after the perpetrator was publicly identified as transgender.
The threats came amid a wave of misinformation around the attack that killed six people at the private religious school last week. After police there announced that the killer had identified as transgender, right-wing extremists launched a line of rhetoric that inaccurately claimed transgender people were responsible for a spate of recent mass shootings.
Adam Michael Nettina is facing federal charges that carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison for interstate communications with a threat to injure.
Nettina had his initial court appearance on Monday, and remains in custody.