Following the Orlando nightclub shooting in June, Kyler Schmitz of Alexandria, Va., was so upset that he took to Twitter. “I’m going to shoot you in the head for allowing someone to murder my loved ones,” he wrote in one. Another read, “I am literally going to buy a gun shoot you in the face I watch your brains splat #BangBangByeB-----.”
The tweets, addressed to Republican Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Hoeven (N.D.) and David Vitter (La.), triggered an investigation that led to Schmitz’s arrest. At the time, Schmitz’s partner dismissed the messages as nothing more than parody and satire, while his attorney interpreted them as “inartful political discourse” on gun control.
Tuesday, Schmitz changed his tune and pled guilty in federal court to threatening the senators. Schmitz has been undergoing court-ordered mental health counseling since his arrest, and it is expected that he will remain free on bond under several conditions—including refraining from using Twitter.
