A man from Anson was arrested by the Abilene Police Department for threatening to shoot participants in the Abilene Pride parade for “taking out Charlie Kirk.“
Court documents state Joshua Cole posted the threats on a Facebook post regarding the Abilene Pride Parade & Festival.
“I say we lock and load and pay them back for taking out Charlie Kirk.” the comment said in part. In the next comment, Cole adds “theres only like 30 of em we can send a clear message to the rest of them.”
Abilene police were made aware of the threats on Sept. 18 and federal agents attempted to speak to Cole the following day.
The FBI agent visited his workplace and was told by Cole’s boss that he just quit and angrily stormed out of the building. Cole’s coworkers described him as a “hot head.”
Court documents state his comments were true threats because they were specific and not conditional.
The threats were also specific to a particular set of victims: people participating in the gay pride parade tomorrow. With this level of specificity, [Cole’s] comments were not mere idle of careless talk, exaggeration, or something said in only a joking manner.
Cole was eventually detained following a traffic stop Sept. 19, just one day before the Pride parade.
Hellbound and Down 