A federal grand jury in the United States has charged a 33-year-old man over an alleged threat to kill the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, during the vice president’s visit to Ohio, a state in the American Midwest, in January 2026.
The United States Department of Justice, which oversees federal law enforcement, said the suspect, Shannon Mathre, a resident of Toledo in Ohio, is accused of “making a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon” the vice president. Okay News reports that the department disclosed this in a statement released on Friday.
According to the Justice Department, Mathre allegedly said he planned to locate where the vice president would be and then “use my M14 automatic gun and kill him.” The statement did not say where the comment was made.
Agents of the United States Secret Service, the federal agency responsible for protecting top United States leaders and visiting dignitaries, arrested Mathre on Friday.
The alleged threat is the latest reported security incident connected to Vance. In early January 2026, Vance said “a crazy person” tried to break into his Ohio home by hammering on the windows. He said he and his family were not at home at the time. United States media reports said a 26-year-old man was taken into custody.
The Justice Department also said investigators found “multiple digital files of child sexual abuse materials” in Mathre’s possession while looking into the alleged threat against the vice president.
Mathre made his first court appearance on Friday before a United States Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of Ohio. He remains in custody ahead of a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday, 11 February 2026.
