A man from the New York City suburbs made death threats on Facebook against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, several members of Congress and all supporters of President Barack Obama, police said Thursday.
When investigators searched the man's home, they found two rifles, bayonets, ammunition, body armor, a sword and a knuckle knife, said Clarkstown police Sgt. Glenn Cummings. The weapons were illegal because the suspect was a convicted felon, Cummings said.
Lawrence Mulqueen, 49, of Nanuet, was arraigned Thursday on charges of making terroristic threats, illegally possessing weapons and harassment.
Cummings said police were called Wednesday by Mulqueen's landlady, who said he'd been harassing her.
The landlady tipped police to Mulqueen's alleged threats, which Cummings said were made on Facebook under a pseudonym.
According to Cummings, Mulqueen said he was eager to start killing officeholders including Cuomo, Bloomberg, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Charles Schumer, Rep. Nita Lowey and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mulqueen was soon taken into custody.
"We thought it would be better to be pre-emptive than maybe have something go wrong and think we should have handled it differently," Cummings said.
Police said Mulqueen also stated that he wanted all of Obama's followers dead, calling them "traitor scum."
"Death to them all," Mulqueen wrote, according to the police report.
There were also threats against law enforcement, police said.
The FBI was called and a search warrant was obtained, based in part on statements Mulqueen made after his arrest, police said.
At his arraignment in Clarkstown Justice Court in New City, Mulqueen was sent to jail until another court appearance Monday. A court clerk said no defense lawyer was listed in court records.
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Police said they found these weapons in Mulqueen's home:
- 1 10.62 x 54 bolt-action rifle
- 1 Remington .35-caliber pump-action rifle loaded with 6 rounds
- 1 bulletproof body armor
- Approximately 100 rounds of ammunition, including 27 rounds of .50-caliber armor piercing bullets (tank buster)
- 2 rifle bayonets
- 1 rifle scope
- 1 sword
- 1 metal knuckle knife
Lawrence Mulqueen, 49, of Nanuet, N.Y. (Clarkstown Police Dept. photo)
