A Florida deputy who wanted ‘the streets of D.C. to run red’ is arrested, police say
A Florida law enforcement officer has been was arrested, accused of threatening to kill federal officials.
Deputy Peter Heneen was charged on Tuesday with making written threats to kill and conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced at a news conference.
Heneen, 29, was suspended pending termination.
“I am angry beyond words,” Judd said. “Having him arrested was important. Having him arrested before Inauguration Day was even more important.”
According to screenshots captured by investigators, Heneen had been communicating the evening of the insurrection, Jan. 6, with another deputy on Facebook’s private messenger, incensed that rioter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot while just trying to “climb through a building.”
Alarmed, the deputy with whom he was communicating showed his supervisor the screen grabs. Judd called the reporting officer a “hero.”
Heneen, who had been with the agency for about six years, wrote “f--- the feds,” and “shoot the feds.” He also said he felt the “need to make the streets of DC [to] run red with the blood of these tyrants.”
Judd said that the Florida man also wrote that he thought the rioters “should have drug those tyrants [the feds] in the streets and executed them.”
“’I’ll f---ing kill them all. I have my s--- next to my bed ready to go. I got a plan.... I’ll slit their throats,’” Judd said, reading the transcript of Heneen’s rant.
The Polk County sheriff’s deputy, who called himself a “patriot” in the messages, was behind bars briefly and released on $5,000 surety bond.
“It’s important to understand, forever, that words matter,” Judd said, “and threatening words to hurt, to kill, are not acceptable.”
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Last week, Florida firefighter Andrew Williams was arrested for his involvement at the riots. The Maitland man was photographed at the Capitol proudly pointing up to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s placard.
The first responder was put on unpaid administrative leave by his employer, the Sanford Fire Department, after being charged with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct.
