wingedwolf/iStock(SEATTLE) — The Department of Justice announced the arrest of a Maryland man on Tuesday who allegedly sent threatening messages to a Spanish restaurant employee and said he wanted to kill every Hispanic person in Miami.
The 35-year-old man, Eric Lin, repeatedly expressed an affinity for President Donald Trump, who he said he believed wanted to start a “Racial War” that would result in the extermination of all non-whites, according to the DOJ.
I Thank God everyday President Donald John Trump is President and that he will launch a Racial War and Crusade,” Lin allegedly wrote in one message, adding that he believed Trump would put every “dangerous non-White or Ethnically or Culturally Foreign group ‘In Line’… that they will either be sent to ‘Concentration Camps’ or dealt with Ruthlessly and Vigorously by the United States Military.”
Lin, a Maryland native, was arrested in Seattle on Tuesday over the series of threatening messages after the Miami Police alerted the FBI about a tip they received from the restaurant employee’s mother.
In an interview with the FBI, the employee printed more than 150 pages worth of messages sent to her by Lin, according to a court filing. The employee also said Lin would frequently visit the restaurant and use language that echoed his disturbing Facebook messages.
The messages included racist language threatening extermination of all Hispanics, and authorities said Lin once sent a picture of himself with Hitler’s face superimposed over his own. He went into gruesome detail saying how he would dismember the employee and eat them “like eating a steak.”
After obtaining a search warrant from Facebook, investigators found messages Lin had sent asking another individual to travel to Miami to injure and kidnap the restaurant worker, offering to pay the person as much as $25,000 to do so.
“The Plan is you… convince her that you are Rich White Americans people she looks up to,” the message read. “And then get her into a Rented House or Mansion and then chain her up and put her in a Rubber made Plastic Bin. Then you got to Drive her to Seattle, Washington upon which I will pay you $25,000 cash. You don’t need to kill her or hurt her so at most you will be charged with Kidnapping.”
The case follows what has become a trend of Trump’s name being invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. A nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 36 such criminal cases, including nine where perpetrators hailed Trump in the midst or immediate aftermath of physically attacking innocent victims. In another 10 cases, perpetrators cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others. And in another 10 cases, Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant’s violent or threatening behavior.
Lin has not yet entered a plea in the case and he remains in federal custody in Seattle.
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