The FBI announced on Monday that they had arrested 29-year-old Tyler Maxon Avalos, an alleged Minnesota anarchist who went by the nickname "Wacko," on October 16 after he posted a hit on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi using the social media platform TikTok.
The post featured an image of Bondi with a red sniper dot on her forehead with the caption, "“WANTED: Pam Bondi / REWARD: 45,000 ‘ DEAD OR ALIVE / (PREFERABLY DEAD)."
Avalos added under the photo, "Cough cough. When they don’t serve us, then what?”
His TikTok account had a link to “An Anarchist FAQ book,” according to authorities.
Avalos also has a long rap sheet, including a stalking conviction in 2022 and a domestic battery conviction in Florida in 2016, when Bondi was state attorney general there.
The specific charge Avalos faces from the feds is interstate transmission of a threat to injure another person.
The investigation into Avalos started on October 9 when a user from Detroit "submitted a report to the FBI National Threat Operations Center" about his TikTok profile, including the pic of Bondi with a sniper dot.
The tipster also flagged the suspect's TikTok feed. TikTok, Google and Comcast helped the FBI track Avalos down.
Avalos's profile contained an anarchy symbol.
According to the court affidavit, anarchism "advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations."
When Avalos appeared in court Wednesday morning, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
He was released on his own recognizance but ordered to wear a GPS monitor.
That means a man who said online that he wanted to reward someone if they killed a member of the President of the United States's cabinet is out on the street again.
I will definitely sleep better knowing that, said no one ever. So glad our court system is taking this threat seriously.
