Virginia
Virginia man threatened to set Kamala Harris on fire, FBI says
A Virginia man was arrested late last week, accused by the FBI of making online threats to kill Vice President Kamala Harris and other public officials.
According to court records reviewed by Newsweek, Frank Carillo of Winchester, Virginia, was charged with making threats against the vice president of the United States after investigators found that he had made several threatening statements on microblogging platform GETTR. Carillo had his first court appearance in the Western District of Virginia on Monday, where a judge ruled that the defendant be detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.
FBI special agent Melissa Macaron wrote in a criminal complaint that investigators first received reports of Carillo’s posts on July 27 after he made an online threat toward a Maricopa County election official in Phoenix, Arizona. The threat read in part, “somebody needs to kill this f***.” The name of the official was redacted from the court documents.
Agents at the FBI’s Phoenix office made requests to GETTR to review more of Carillo’s account and it was discovered that he had made approximately 4,359 posts targeting various public officials, according to court documents. The names included Harris, President Joe Biden, FBI Director Christopher Wray and others who were not mentioned in the records.
MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Image
Investigators say that Carillo mentioned Harris 19 times on his social media account, including in one threat made on July 27, which read, “Kamala Harris needs to be put on fire alive I will do it personally if no one else does it I want her to suffer a slow agonizing death.”
In another post on the same day, Carillo wrote, according to court documents, “Harris is going to regret ever trying to become president because if that ever happened I will personally pluck out her eyes with a pair of pliers but first I will shoot and kill everyone that gets in my way that is a f****** promise.”
The July 27 post arrived just six days after Harris announced her bid for the Oval Office and two weeks after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Since the shooting, which left Trump with an injury to the tip of his right ear, law enforcement charged two Florida men in threats against public officials. One, arrested July 15 by the Secret Service, was accused of threatening to kill Biden. The second, arrested on July 19, was charged with making threats toward Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Carillo was also accused of making several posts that talked about using firearms to shoot people. The criminal complaint included examples of threats that targeted Muslims, immigrants and Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau.
FBI officials identified Carillo through subscriber information provided by GETTR. A search warrant of his residence was carried out on Friday, during which law enforcement found a RF-15 rifle and 9 mm handgun. Carillo also asked an officer during the search if it was “about the online stuff” he “posted,” according to authorities.
He was arrested following the search and the felony charge against him carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Newsweek reached out to the public defender assigned to Carillo via email for comment on Monday.
U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia said in a news release related to Carillo’s arrest, “Open political discourse is a cornerstone of our American experience. We can disagree. We can argue and we can debate. However, when those disagreements cross the line to threats of violence, law enforcement must step in.”
Virginia
AG Miyares urges Virginia schools to adopt stricter definition of antisemitism
VIRGINIA (7News) — Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares urged all Virginia public schools to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism (IHRA definition) into their codes of conduct and anti-discrimination policies.
His office pointed to a 25 percent increase in reported hate crimes statewide in 2024, with crimes involving anti-Jewish bias rising 155 percent – the sharpest increase among all categories tracked by Virginia State Police in their most recent annual crime report.
READ MORE | Shots fired near Compass Creek Parkway in Loudoun County
In the letter addressed to superintendents and school boards sent Monday, Miyares states Jewish students “have been excluded, harassed, threatened, and even assaulted.” Miyares pointed to the U.S. Department of Education using the IHRA definition to enforce Title VI and to the Commonwealth’s 2023 adoption of the non-legally binding definition “as a tool and guide for training, education, recognizing, and combating antisemitic hate crimes or discrimination and for tracking and reporting antisemitic incidents in the Commonwealth.”
“Thus, the law of the Commonwealth requires use of IHRA to ‘recognize’ the discriminatory motive behind antisemitic conduct and act upon such discrimination findings pursuant to the Virginia Human Rights Act,” Miyares wrote in the letter, adding: “As part of your compliance with Federal and Virginia law, you must implement the [HRA definition and its contemporary examples into your codes of conduct and discrimination policies to assess unprotected activity.”
7News has reached out to Northern Virginia school districts for their response to Miyares’ letter.
Virginia
Annandale teen and grandmother killed in Christmas day crash
A Fairfax County family is demanding justice, saying the driver who caused a crash that killed a grandmother and a high school student is out free while they’re grieving an unimaginable loss.
The Vu family, from Annandale, was at a holiday dinner on Christmas day, but on their drive home, Virginia State police say another driver rear-ended the Vu family’s van on the Beltway in Fairfax County.
Duy Cao was driving the van — her 75-year-old mother, Su Nguyen, and her 15-year-old daughter, Annie Vu, were killed.
The family said according to Virginia State police, the driver who hit them was going more than 100 miles per hour.
“I don’t know how to, how to live,” Cao said, sitting alongside her husband An Vu, as the couple
gasped through their grief and recover from their own injuries.
There were six people in their van, and everyone was rushed to the emergency room, including their son, Annie’s brother, 12-year-old Andy.
“When he came out of it, his first question was, you know, ‘Where is Annie?’” said Kathie Vu, Annie’s godmother.
She says Annie’s brother was just released from the hospital four days ago and is struggling to cope with losing his sister and grandmother.
“My mom, the best. My mom, she came here, 11-years-old. She takes care of my children,” Cao said.
Nguyen was a devout catholic who helped raise the kids while their parents worked. Annie was a bright student at Annandale High School, where the principal says grief counselors have been made available for students.
At the beginning of this school year, Annie introduced herself to her classmates in her AP Seminar class at Annandale High School. Her principal shared with News4 what she wrote about herself. She told her classmates to count on her to always be hard-working, respectful and collaborative. She talked about her family and how her grandmother taught her to speak some Vietnamese. She hoped to major in biology at the University of Virginia saying, “although I don’t know what to do in the healthcare field, I’m sure I want to help others.”
“The other day, I heard my brother-in-law say, ‘There will be no more Christmas now.’ They’re always going to come into this time of year thinking about what happened,” Kathie Vu said.
The Vu family is demanding answers about the man who hit their car. Virginia State Police have not released his name nor any charges. The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney says reckless driving charges were filed, but News4 hasn’t been able to confirm that via court records.
While News4 has not been able to confirm if reckless driving charges have actually been filed against the driver who allegedly caused this deadly crash, the prosecutor’s office says it is waiting for the results of a toxicology test. Once those results are back, it could determine what charges the driver might face.
The family says that misdemeanor charge isn’t enough, they want him tried for involuntary manslaughter.
“I want everybody to pray for my mother-in-law and for my daughter so they can, you know, in heaven,” An Vu said.
Virginia
Former Oklahoma Sooners DB transferring to West Virginia
The Oklahoma Sooners are fully in the swing of transfer portal season in early January, as they’re making additions to the roster and seeing former players land at their new schools. The portal officially opened on January 2nd, and it will be open until January 16th.
One of the latest players to find his new school is former OU defensive back Maliek Hawkins, who has committed to West Virginia. Hawkins is the son of former Oklahoma defensive back Mike Hawkins Sr., who played for the Sooners in 2002 and then played multiple years in the NFL. He’s the younger brother of former OU quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., who started five games in Norman over the last two seasons. Both Hawkins brothers are now headed to Morgantown, with the older Hawkins hoping to win the starting QB job, and the younger Hawkins hoping to crack the rotation at cornerback.
Hawkins was a member of Oklahoma’s 2025 recruiting class, signing with the Sooners as a three-star recruit. He played in just one game during his true freshman season, and now arrives at WVU as a package deal with his older brother.
Despite the Sooners expecting to return starters Eli Bowen and Courtland Guillory at the CB spots in 2026, the portal exits of Hawkins, Devon Jordan, Gentry Williams, and Kendel Dolby have thinned the depth at that position. With Jacobe Johnson also expected to return, Oklahoma will be looking to add a key rotational cornerback or two in the transfer portal ahead of next year.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
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