Man Allegedly Threatens to Harm Former President Trump, Federal Authorities Report

A young man from Florida, aged 20, is facing accusations of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump. Allegedly, he declared his intention to kill the former president in a social media post, which depicted him wielding an AR-15-style firearm inside a car.

Nick Guadalupe Cruz-Lopez has been apprehended and formally charged with one count of threatening to kill the president of the United States. This was confirmed by federal officials through a recent announcement.

The case against Cruz-Lopez commenced on April 2 after the United States Secret Service received a “voluntary emergency disclosure” from Meta, the parent company behind Facebook and Instagram. This was in response to a troubling Instagram post, as detailed in the complaint submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Authorities reported that an Instagram account under the username “813.cruzz” publicly posted a message stating, “MAGA Otw to kill trump,” accompanied by an image of the account holder brandishing a rifle while seated in a vehicle.

As outlined in the complaint, this post was shared “on the internet, an instrumentality of interstate commerce,” featuring a photograph of Cruz-Lopez “holding an AR-15 style rifle while in a vehicle.” Investigators also pointed out that the suspect had “a distinct tattoo on his forearm,” which was visible in the image.

Meta provided additional data to law enforcement, including location coordinates that placed the post in the area of St. Pete Beach, Florida, about 125 miles southwest of Orlando.

Investigators said they used automated license plate readers, which showed a gray Honda registered to Cruz-Lopez was in the same area earlier that day.

Meta also provided a phone number and date of birth associated with the account. After obtaining emergency records from T-Mobile, agents identified the subscriber as Cruz-Lopez and tracked his phone to an address in Plant City, Florida, prosecutors wrote.

A review of state driver records confirmed Cruz-Lopez’s identity and showed the same vehicle linked to him, investigators wrote.

Agents also located a TikTok account tied to the username “@813.cruzz,” which they said displayed a forearm tattoo matching the one seen in the Instagram post.

“Using open-source and law enforcement intelligence resources, [the Secret Service] was able to confirm that the information provided by Meta and T-Mobile matched Cruz-Lopez,” the complaint states.

Federal agents located Cruz-Lopez later that same day and took him into custody, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

If convicted, Cruz-Lopez faces up to five years in federal prison, prosecutors said.