NORFOLK, Va. -- A Virginia Beach man was arrested Tuesday for threatening to assault and shoot Virginia Senator Mark Warner.
Anthony Butkiewicz III left multiple threatening voicemails at Warner's Richmond office, detailing his violent plans to punch and shoot him.
Butkiewicz was charged last week with a single-count indictment with threatening to assault Warner "with intent to impede, intimidate, and interfere with Warner while he was engaged in the performance of his official duties."
Butkiewicz’s first threat against Warner demanded that the senator hold a town hall meeting in Norfolk where, the defendant said, “I would personally like to stand face to face with you and I will punch you in the jaw! And you can lock me up and put me in jail, my friend! I ain’t got a problem with it.” Butkiewicz then added, “[S]tick your head between your f*****g legs and kiss your a** goodbye because we’ve got a bullet right for your ear!”
He went on to say, "Walk outside your f*****g front door, my friend! Don’t forget, buddy! Just don’t f*****g forget [makes shooting sound]. I’ll f*****g pop you, climb down out of the tree, and get in my car and drive the f**k away. It is f*****g real easy buddy.”"
Court documents, detail that the “we” Butkiewicz was referring to was Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the DC snipers. They also describe a lengthy history of threatening violence.
According to those documents, for the past 15 years, Butkiewicz has been under a restraining order prohibiting him from making contact with his ex-girlfriend - the mother of his child. A New Jersey court imposed the restraining order after the ex-girlfriend reported that the defendant endangered her life by attempting to strangle her. He violated the order four times, once sustaining a conviction. In one violation, he called his ex-girlfriend from out of state and threatened to travel to her home and kill her.
Because of his history of making "terroristic threats" and "pattern of refusing to comply with court supervision," Butkiewicz is considered a flight risk and is being detained pending trial.
