Federal prosecutors say an 18-year-old Massachusetts man sent an Instagram message with a photo of a rifle and the words “im gonna kill trump.”
Quick Take
- Trenton Touch, 18, of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, faces a federal charge for threatening President Trump.
- Prosecutors say he also threatened to “shoot up a school.”
- Agents found a firearm at his home during a court-authorized search.
- He is due in federal court on November 9.
- Investigators say he used four separate Instagram accounts to post violent content.
Instagram Messages Spark Federal Investigation
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that Touch sent a direct message on June 21 pairing a photo of what looked like a scoped rifle with the words “it’s time” and “im gonna kill trump.” Investigators say they traced the threat to Touch after identifying four Instagram accounts tied to him that contained violent and threatening material.
Prosecutors say Touch did not stop at one target. According to the charging documents, he allegedly sent additional messages threatening to “shoot up a school,” raising the stakes well beyond a single political rant. The Boston Herald reported that investigators also describe Touch as a self-styled “race war advocate” who praised mass shooters as heroes.
Agents Find Firearm During Home Search
A court-authorized search of Touch’s Tewksbury home turned up a firearm, according to NBC Boston. The outlet reported investigators recovered a revolver-style handgun from the residence. The Boston Globe reported that charging documents tie the weapon to the same rifle shown in the June 21 Instagram message, and that Touch also faces separate state firearm charges tied to the discovery.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was directly involved in building the case, and agents treated the firearm find as evidence that Touch had the means, not just the words, to act on his alleged threats. For a conservative audience that has watched political violence rhetoric spike in recent years, the combination of a stated threat against the president and a recovered gun is exactly the kind of case law enforcement is supposed to catch before it goes further.
Case Tests Federal Threat Law
Touch was charged by criminal complaint, a formal step that requires a federal magistrate judge to sign off before the case can proceed. Reporting identified U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson as the judge who unsealed the case. A criminal complaint is not a conviction. It is the opening stage of a federal prosecution, and the case will next move toward a potential grand jury indictment.
Federal law under which presidential threat cases are brought requires prosecutors to prove a “true threat,” a legal standard shaped by decades of Supreme Court precedent distinguishing genuine threats from political hyperbole. That standard exists precisely because the First Amendment protects even harsh political speech. But a photo of a rifle paired with a stated intent to kill the president is the kind of specific, armed threat the law was written to stop.
Threats against American presidents are not new, and the Secret Service has documented eleven attacks on sitting presidents since 1835, four of them fatal. That history is why federal agents treat any credible-sounding threat against a president with urgency, regardless of the speaker’s age or apparent seriousness. Conservatives who have spent years warning about rising political violence will see this case as proof the threat is real and that law enforcement is right to act fast when a gun and a death threat appear together.
Sources:
redstate.com, justice.gov, bostonherald.com, nbcboston.com, boston25news.com, massdailynews.com
