Prosecutors say the suspect, who pleaded not responsible, left many messages threatening Zohran Mamdani and his household.
Revealed On 18 Sep 2025
Authorities in New York Metropolis have charged a Texas man with making “terroristic” threats in opposition to Zohran Mamdani over a collection of menacing voicemail and written messages that the suspect allegedly left for the mayoral candidate.
Queens District Lawyer Melinda Katz mentioned on Monday that Jeremy Fistel, 44, left the messages, which prompt that Mamdani ought to worry for his life, in June and July.
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“The defendant informed the assemblyman to return to Uganda earlier than somebody shoots him within the head, to keep watch over his home and household, to look at his again each second till he leaves America, and that he and his family should die,” Katz mentioned.
“Let me be very clear – we take threats of violence in opposition to any workplace holder extraordinarily significantly – and there’s no room for hate or bigotry in our political discourse.”
In response to Katz’s workplace, in a single assertion submitted by the web site of Mamdani, who’s at the moment serving as a member of the New York State Meeting, the suspect allegedly wrote: “I’d like to see an [Israeli military] bullet undergo your cranium. Could be even higher when you needed to watch your spouse and youngsters murdered in entrance [of] you.”
Fistel was charged with 22 counts, for which he can spend as much as 15 years in jail if convicted.
The costs come amid rising concern about political violence in the US after the September 10 assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
In June, a gunman also killed Melissa Hortman, a prime Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota, and her husband.
Fistel appeared in courtroom in New York and pleaded not responsible. He was later launched on a $30,000 bail.
In response to the Related Press, defence lawyer Todd Douglas Greenberg argued that Fistel used phrases like “hope” and “want” and didn’t situation a direct menace to Mamdani.
“Nobody is sitting right here arguing that what my shopper allegedly mentioned was correct. It was disagreeable speech, however it was free speech,” Greenberg was quoted as saying.
An area reporter posted a video of Fistel, wearing a black hoodie and a pair of denims, rapidly strolling away from reporters as he exited the courthouse.
The victory of Mamdani in New York Metropolis’s Democratic primaries in June sparked an Islamophobic backlash from many conservative lawmakers and activists.
Final week, Mamadani told the New York Instances that he obtained new threats after the killing of Kirk, however vowed to proceed campaigning in the identical method forward of the final elections in November.
“It gained’t change how I transfer by town that I like,” he mentioned.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the costs in opposition to Fistel on Thursday.
“No public servant – or any particular person – needs to be subjected to Islamophobic harassment or violence merely for serving their group or for being who they’re,” Afaf Nasher, CAIR-New York government director, mentioned in a press release.
“Hate has no place in our state or our nation.”
