Edward Arthur Owens Jr. of Elizabeth, Pa., was arrested on Friday and charged with threatening to harm a public official, at whom the 29-year-old allegedly directed antisemitic statements, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Owens is accused of sending a social media message to a “local public official,” whom the U.S. Justice Department didn’t name, on May 20, stating that “we’re coming for you” and “be afraid” and adding a German flag image.
“Go back to Israel or better yet, exterminate yourself and save us the trouble,” Owens allegedly wrote. “109 countries for a reason. We will not stop until your kind is nonexistent.”
The Justice Department cited the Anti-Defamation League and stated that the reference to 109 countries “is an antisemitic assertion that Jews have been expelled from 109 different countries,” which “is used by antisemites to call for the expulsion of Jews from other countries and otherwise to promote hatred.”
“The recipient of the message is a local official who regularly engages with the public,” the Justice Department stated.
A hearing is scheduled on the government’s motion to order Owens detained until the trial on June 5, as it claims he is a danger to others.
According to TribLive, a friend of the defendant said that he has made antisemitic statements, and although Owens said he was “blackout drunk” when he sent the message, he wasn’t observed to be drinking that day.
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, which didn’t name the official, reported that the person told the paper, “I’m worried for my safety and for my family’s safety and worried for people who work in this office.”
“It’s hard to know how these people will act, because on many levels, they’re totally irrational,” the unnamed official told the paper. “It is irrational to send a message like that to someone you’ve never met. It’s irrational to feel this way about anyone.”