Southern Arizona man sought for alleged threats against Trump as candidate visits border

BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — A 66-year-old southern Arizona man is being sought for allegedly making death threats against Donald Trump on social media, authorities said Thursday, as the Republican former president and 2024 candidate was in the area to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Ronald Lee Syrvud, 66, from the city of Benson. It’s in the same county as the border area that Trump was visiting in the afternoon and that his running mate Sen. JD Vance went to in recent weeks.

“We are working closely with all local, state, and federal partners to locate this subject related to the outstanding warrants and the threats investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The agency didn’t describe the alleged threats. An online search failed to turn up any social media accounts in Syrvud’s name or any contact information for him.

The sheriff’s office said Syrvud was also wanted on several outstanding warrants in Wisconsin for driving under the influence and failure to appear in court, as well as a felony hit and run charge in Graham County, Arizona, and failure to register as a sex offender in Coconino County, Arizona.

Syrvud was described as a white man about 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall, weighing approximately 220 pounds (100 kilograms), with white hair and green eyes.

Trump survived an assassination attempt July 13. This Wednesday, at his first outdoor rally since the attempt, he spoke from behind bulletproof glass in North Carolina at an event focused on national security.