A man has been arrested after Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar was sprayed with an unknown substance during a town hall in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, was arrested and booked into Hennepin County Jail for third-degree assault, a spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed to Newsweek. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Minneapolis police previously told Newsweek that officers working at the town hall observed a man "use a syringe to spray an unknown liquid onto U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar." According to videos of the incident, the man appears to shout at Omar: “You must resign… you’re tearing Minnesota apart."
Shortly before the incident, Omar had called for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign or face impeachment. In Minneapolis, tensions over federal immigration enforcement have escalated after the fatal shootings of two residents by federal agents this month during President Donald Trump’s enforcement surge in the city.
Lawmakers have spoken about the impact on their ability to hold town halls and public events, and some cited the threat environment in their decisions not to seek reelection.
Last week, a man was arrested in Utah after allegedly punching U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, at a private party during the Sundance Film Festival and telling him Trump was going to deport him.
Kazmierczak does not appear to have ever been charged with a violent crime in Minnesota. He has twice been convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol, according to court records reviewed by Newsweek. Court filings from a divorce case in 2017 said he has two children, was not employed and was receiving disability insurance payments. He has been married and divorced twice, CNN said, citing Minnesota’s official marriage and divorce records.
A bankruptcy petition for an Anthony Kazmierczak filed in Minnesota's third district in January 2019 showed he had credit, medical and legal debt. The filing said he was living in the Lynnhurst neighborhood of Minneapolis, not married, registered as disabled and receiving Social Security payments.
A Facebook profile, reported by CNN to belong to Kazmierczak, has a history of political posts, including criticism of Democrats such as former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. In October 2021, he posted a political cartoon criticizing Omar’s security spending.
Following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September, Kazmierczak changed his profile picture to a photo of Trump speaking at a Turning Point USA event. A couple of weeks later, he changed it to a photo of Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, being comforted by Trump. He previously added badges to his profile pictures to show his support for Ukraine.
U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement to Newsweek: "A man is in custody after he decided to assault a member of Congress—an unacceptable decision that will be met with swift justice. We are grateful for the rapid response from on-site security and our local law enforcement partners. We are now working with our federal partners to see this man faces the most serious charges possible to deter this kind of violence in our society."
CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement sent to Newsweek: "We strongly condemn the attack on Representative Ilhan Omar at her community town hall, which comes after years of racist and Islamophobic incitement against her.
"We call on all members of Congress to condemn this assault, which was entirely predictable. The dangerous incitement that politicians like President Trump, pro-Israel lobby groups like AIPAC, and anti-Muslim hate groups have spent years spewing against Representative Omar must end immediately.
"We commend Representative Omar for her courage in continuing to speak out for justice here and abroad, despite the hate and threats she has faced for doing so. The American Muslim community stands in solidarity with her. An attack on Representative Omar is an attack on all of us and on the rule of law."
Sounds like half of the internet.