Federal authorities have apprehended a 27-year-old man from Illinois who is accused of making threats to assassinate former President Donald Trump through social media platforms. The suspect, identified as Derek S. Lopez, allegedly made explicit threats, including a post stating, “I’m going to kill Donald Trump.”

Lopez, who previously worked as a teaching assistant at Illinois State University, was arrested this week by federal agents. He is facing charges for allegedly making threats against the president, as confirmed by the authorities.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois issued a press release on Tuesday detailing the arrest. According to the statement, Lopez could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in federal prison if convicted.

The criminal complaint reveals that on September 15, a report was filed with the FBI National Threat Operations Center highlighting Lopez’s “concerning statements online.” These posts, made on Facebook and Instagram, were perceived as threats aimed at the president and other federal officials. The individual who filed the complaint provided authorities with several images of Lopez’s posts.

During an interview with federal agents on October 9, Lopez reportedly admitted that his online behavior was “a little crazy,” but he considered it “performance art” protected by the First Amendment. He claimed he had “no intentions or plans to hurt or kill anyone,” describing himself as non-violent, though he expressed a belief that “some people need to be killed.”

During the interview, Lopez said he was just being “funny” when he allegedly commented on an Instagram post from the U.S. Secret Service about someone assassinating Trump during the government shutdown.

“This is the perfect time to kill the president!” Lopez wrote, per the complaint. “The Secret Service is down!”

Lopez also compared himself to Charlie Kirk, the controversial right-wing activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was assassinated last month.

“[Lopez] said if his words convince people to kill Nazis then it is better than killing people who didn’t deserve it,” the complaint states. “He then compared himself to Charlie Kirk saying they are both innocent if their words don’t commit the crimes, but if people act off their words, it is on the people for committing the crimes not his words.”

After the interview with authorities, Lopez allegedly continued to make provocative posts online, even creating a parody account of the FBI agent who interviewed him in which he posted as “Agent Smith.”

One of Lopez’s alleged Instagram posts from Oct. 26 was a video that prosecutors described as follows:

The post contained a video of an unknown male (UM1) appearing to cock a handgun, walk down a road, and then point the gun. When UM1 pointed the gun, an image popped up of President Donald Trump wearing a crown with what appeared to be red cross hairs on his forehead. Then multiple images of FBI Director Kash Patel popped up in the background with a video of an unknown male (UM2) dancing.

The following day, Lopez allegedly posted to X, formerly Twitter, writing, “I’m gonna kill Donald Trump, idaf.”

Lopez earlier this month was arrested by local police at Illinois State University for allegedly “flipping” a Turning Point USA table on the campus. Video of the incident went viral and resulted in Lopez losing his position with the university.

Photo allegedly showing Lopez flipping over a Turning Point USA table at Illinois State University earlier this month (YouTube/Times of India).

Lopez is currently being held in custody by U.S. Marshals and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Hanna for his detention and preliminary hearings on Nov. 3, records show. He is being represented in the matter by a federal public defender.

Earlier this week, a former U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant with sharpshooter qualifications who was also accused of threatening to kill the president in social media posts was acquitted after his defense attorney convinced a jury that his statements were constitutionally protected speech.