Main: President Donald Trump speaks before Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is sworn in as HHS Secretary in the Oval Office, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington (Photo/Alex Brandon). Inset: Photo of Cruz-Lopez's alleged social media post threatening to kill Trump (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida).
A 20-year-old man in Florida is accused of threatening to assassinate Donald Trump, allegedly claiming he was en route to kill the president in a social media post that showed him holding an AR-15-style rifle inside a vehicle.
Nick Guadalupe Cruz-Lopez was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with one count of making a threat to kill the president of the United States, federal authorities announced.
The investigation into Cruz-Lopez began April 2 when the United States Secret Service received a "voluntary emergency disclosure" from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, regarding a concerning Instagram post, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Authorities said an account with the username "813.cruzz" made a public post stating, "MAGA Otw to kill trump," alongside an image of the user holding a rifle while inside a vehicle.
According to the complaint, the post was transmitted "on the internet, an instrumentality of interstate commerce," and included a photo showing Cruz-Lopez "holding an AR-15 style rifle while in a vehicle." Investigators also noted the individual had "a distinct tattoo on his forearm" that was visible in the image.
Meta provided additional data to law enforcement, including location coordinates that placed the post in the area of St. Pete Beach, Florida, about 125 miles southwest of Orlando.
Investigators said they used automated license plate readers, which showed a gray Honda registered to Cruz-Lopez was in the same area earlier that day.
Meta also provided a phone number and date of birth associated with the account. After obtaining emergency records from T-Mobile, agents identified the subscriber as Cruz-Lopez and tracked his phone to an address in Plant City, Florida, prosecutors wrote.
A review of state driver records confirmed Cruz-Lopez's identity and showed the same vehicle linked to him, investigators wrote.
Agents also located a TikTok account tied to the username "@813.cruzz," which they said displayed a forearm tattoo matching the one seen in the Instagram post.
"Using open-source and law enforcement intelligence resources, [the Secret Service] was able to confirm that the information provided by Meta and T-Mobile matched Cruz-Lopez," the complaint states.
Federal agents located Cruz-Lopez later that same day and took him into custody, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.
If convicted, Cruz-Lopez faces up to five years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
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