NC man arrested after threats to kill ICE agents if Charlotte arrests don’t stop
A North Carolina man has been arrested after calling Charlotte police and threatening to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers if they continue “’snatching’ people up in unmarked vehicles without wearing uniforms,” according to an criminal complaint filed in federal court.
Johnathan Trent Thomas, a-27-year-old who lives in the Linwood area of Davidson County and says he is a veteran, on Thursday “threatened to ‘shoot them all’ if he observed anyone making arrests,” according to the complaint. He called Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to make the threats, referring specifically to recent ICE arrests near a Charlotte school.
After Thomas called a CMPD office and made threats, a sergeant called him back and recorded the call, court records said.
When the sergeant asked Thomas why he was threatening officers working under ICE, he said his grandfather “came to the United States on a boat” and that he had “signed up to kill and die for less,” according to court records.
He told police he would “swiss cheese” the officers, which is “exactly what he did to the Taliban during two deployments,” according to the complaint.
Court documents do not confirm Thomas’ military status.
Charlotte ICE arrests
Thomas, in two calls with CMPD, reportedly referenced recent ICE arrests near Charlotte East Language Academy off Albemarle Road.
ICE agents on May 12 arrested two men close to a Charlotte school near that road, The Charlotte Observer reported. One father was arrested while headed to the magnet school for a drop off, according to parents. Another man was arrested walking in a nearby neighborhood the same day.
Thomas in his calls is accused of comparing those arresting agents to gang members.
Thomas said he was coming to Charlotte with “armor piercing ammunition, night vision devices, and body armor, court records alleged.
Man threatens ICE
In a news release Monday, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said Thomas has “an extensive history” of threatening police with Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and CMPD” and “had followed CMPD officers in marked patrol cars.”
During his phone call with the CMPD sergeant, court records allege, Thomas said police would find explosives around his Linwood home if they came looking for him.
Court records allege that he also made a derogatory reference to the April 29, 2024, shootout in Charlotte that left four law-enforcement officers dead.
Thomas, according to the news release and court records, said he “could do a whole lot better than that.”
When a Homeland Security officer on Friday searched his home about 50 miles northeast of Charlotte, they found three rifles and a handgun.
The 27-year-old was being held in the Gaston County jail Monday afternoon, according to Ferguson’s office. He was arrested Friday and remains in custody while facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
