The ministry said the men’s victims numbered more than 100, including members of Congress and government officials.
She added that Thomas Szabo, 26, from Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, from Serbia, are charged with conspiracy, threatening, spreading false information about the presence of explosives and other charges related to threatening domestic and foreign commerce.
The indictment alleges that the two men carried out the acts between 2020 and 2024, making false reports of murders, kidnappings and suicide attempts to provoke an emergency response from local authorities, including police SWAT teams.
The regulation stated:
- January 6, 2022: Szabo posted a threat on a public online forum threatening to commit mass murder and blow up the Capitol building.
- January 17, 2021: Szabo called a crisis hotline and claimed there were threats of explosives at the Capitol and the killing of then-President-elect Joe Biden.
- December 25, 2023: Radovanovic called a government agency to file a false report of an imminent murder-suicide at the home of a member of the House of Representatives.
- December 25, 2023: Radovanovic calls to report a murder and kidnapping at a senator’s home.
- December 27, 2023: Radovanovic reports a murder and kidnapping at the home of the head of a federal law enforcement agency.
The case is another example of the increasing threats to US officials, especially after former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and refused to acknowledge it, saying it was rigged.
The Capitol Police report that threats against U.S. lawmakers rose from 5,206 in 2018 to 8,008 in 2023.
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