Authorities in Arizona arrested a convicted felon accused of making threats against former president Donald Trump following a brief manhunt. The Cochise County Sheriff's Office said that 66-year-old Ronald Lee Syvrud allegedly made several posts on social media threatening to kill Trump ahead of his trip to Arizona to visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday (August 22).
"As part of the operations plan in place for the visit of candidate Donald Trump on today's date, locating this subject was a priority. Intelligence developed led to a possible location in the St. David area and multiple units deployed to the location," the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook.
Officers took Syvrud into custody without incident.
Officials said that he had outstanding warrants from the state of Wisconsin for DUI/Failure to Appear for DUI and from Graham County, Arizona, for Hit/Run and Felony Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. In addition to the charges stemming from the warrants, Syvrud was also charged with two counts of threatening.
"Syvrud remains in custody pending further court adjudication. The successful conclusion of this incident without injury to our communities or public safety personnel is a testament to the strong working relationship and coordination between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies," the sheriff's office said.
During Trump's visit to the border later, he was asked about the manhunt and said nobody mentioned it to him.
"I haven't heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me," Trump told reporters. "Thank you for telling me. Let's get out of here, right now," Trump joked.
"I have great respect," Trump then said, referring to the Secret Service. "But, no, I haven't heard that. But I'm not that surprised. And the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys."