Eagleville man arrested for firing into the Montgomery County Democratic Committee’s headquarters
Anthony Nero told police he fired into the building in January because he was frustrated by COVID-19-related shutdowns, authorities said.
Fueled by frustration over COVID-19-related shutdowns, and convinced that the election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump, Anthony Nero drove to the headquarters of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee in the predawn hours of Jan. 20 and fired three shots into the vacant building.
The Eagleville resident admitted this to detectives in the suburban county late Thursday, when he was arrested and charged with terrorism, terroristic threats, carrying a gun without a license, and related offenses, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Friday.
Nero, 48, remained in custody Friday in lieu of 10% of $50,000 bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
The committee’s executive director, Brian Levy, found the bullets inside the office while visiting it Jan. 20, police said. They had been fired through the front window, and struck a desk inside.
» READ MORE: Party officials shaken after gunman targets Montgomery County Democratic Committee office
The committee’s chair, Joe Foster, said Friday that he and his colleagues are relieved that Nero has been arrested, and thanked investigators for piecing together the crime.
“Part of the relief of catching this guy is the hope that by catching him, it not just draws a conclusion to his specific behavior, but the overall behavior,” Foster said. “The guy who shot this window truly believes the election was stolen, just as the people who sacked the Capitol in January.
“They all had a sense of permission to do this. The lies that informed them and their willingness to do this reinforce that we need to return to the standard that these actions can’t be tolerated in a democratic society.”
The assault on the political party’s office stunned committee members, who were already on edge after receiving an anonymous, threatening email days earlier that called them traitors and warned them to “beef up security.”
That, too, was Nero, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. And the politically charged, expletive-filled message is what led federal investigators to him, police said.
“Just wanted to let your offices know that you should probably beef up security,” Nero wrote in the email, signing it “Silent Majority.” “With this stolen election and coup d’etat, violence is the only language you bloodsuckers understand.”
Nero also railed against Black Lives Matter and antifa in the message, and promised that supporters of Trump would “end this insurrection.”
“Random acts of violence are difficult to investigate,” he wrote. “Have fun.”
Officials from the Democratic Committee received the email Jan. 7, the day after Trump’s supporters rioted in Washington. Law enforcement sources said Friday that there was no indication that Nero was present at the Capitol during the violence.
FBI agents assisting local and county investigators traced the IP address of the device that was used to send the email to a cell phone registered to Nero, the affidavit said. When detectives visited Nero’s home, they found a cocked and loaded .45-caliber handgun inside his car.
In an interview with detectives, Nero admitted to sending the email and firing the shots, according to the affidavit. He told investigators he did so because he was under duress because the COVID-19 pandemic was “shutting down the country” and because of the “abundant evidence available relating to the theft of the election.”
Nero is scheduled to appear before a magisterial district judge for a preliminary hearing on March 5.