On Thursday, a one judge did what thousands of social media users only wish they had the power to do: Ban someone from Twitter.
A Virginia judge has ordered a man to “not tweet at all for any reason to anyone” after he was arrested last week for tweeting a string of threats to politicians.
According to Vocativ, Uber driver Kyler Schmitz was arrested on Friday after a license plate reader detected that he was driving near the Capitol building after tweeting threatening messages to GOP politicians.
According to Gawker, Schmitz’s now-deleted Twitter account included a message to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that read “I’m going to shoot you in the head for allowing for allowing someone to murder my loved ones.” He also tweeted at the Senate GOP’s account, saying “I can’t wait to shoot you all in the face one by one”.
Vocativ also points out that Schmitz also tweeted at gun stores and hunting shops, inquiring about firearms.
Schmitz admitted to sending the tweets, but his fiancee claims they were meant in satire. Prosecutors disagreed, and called them threatening.
Schmitz was released today, but on the condition that he undergo psychological treatment, that he stay in his house except for approved reasons, stay away from alcohol and drugs and stay off Twitter.
NEW: Judge orders Va man NOT to "tweet at all for any reason to anyone" - Man charged w/ Twitter threats at Senators pic.twitter.com/5O5euP4uwu
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 28, 2016
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
