A Hawaii man faces federal charges for threatening Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and vowing to shoot up the Michigan Capitol building in Lansing.
Ronald Saville, 48, of Honolulu, was charged by criminal complaint with sending interstate communications containing threats, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii announced Tuesday. He made his initial appearance Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and remains detained pending transportation to Hawaii.
The incidents leading to his arrest occurred in May.
The Hawaii district attorney’s office said Saville sent an email on May 9 to Michigan State Police in which he identified himself, referenced the Michigan Capitol, and stated he intended to walk in with a weapon “and open fire and kill as many people as possible. I mean what I say I’m not a joke.”
A second email followed shortly after, this one directed at Whitmer. Prosecutors said it contained a threat that “on Tuesday second, Lancy, Michigan is never gonna be the same again going to walk into the state capital shoot it up and kill as many people as possible than I’m coming for you.”
Saville then called the FBI on May 12, telling an agent he wanted to kill Whitmer because of her political affiliation and that he had been conducting online research to plan a trip to Michigan, according to the district attorney’s office.
Whitmer, a Democrat, is term-limited and cannot seek another term as governor. She has not publicly stated her plans after leaving office. During her eight years as governor, others also made threats against her, and she has spoken out against political violence.
If convicted, Saville faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 per count of interstate communications containing threats.
Saville carries two prior federal convictions in the District of Hawaii — one for making threats against former President George W. Bush in 2006 and another for threatening former U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway of Hawaii in 2012, the district attorney’s office said.
The FBI is leading the investigation.