Arizona man sentenced to more than three years for threatening to kill President Trump and former Vice President Harris

PHOENIX (KYMA) - A senior U.S. District judge sentenced an Arizona man to more than three years in prison for threatening to kill President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Rene Ortiz, a 56-year-old man from Casa Grande, Arizona, was convicted of two felony counts of making threats against successors to the presidency and one felony count of making threats against former presidents in June, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Ortiz delivered a written threat to the federal courthouse in Phoenix on November 5, 2024, to "execute the newly elected [President of the United States] by firing an M-16A2 service rifle with a magazine of six rounds."

The threat, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, was directed at both former Vice President Harris and President Trump.

Twenty days after the election, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Ortiz delivered another threat to shoot "the incoming fraudulent elected [President of the United States] … at the inauguration on January 20th, 2025," to the federal courthouse in Tucson.

This prompted the U.S. Secret Service to interview Ortiz, who repeated his intent to make the threats, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Ortiz was arrested on January 17, 2025, ahead of Trump's inauguration, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.