FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 13, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Rockaway Beach man charged with threatening to kill Trump: Feds
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A Rockaway Beach man was arrested
by the U.S. Secret Service on the morning
of Monday, Jan. 10, for allegedly threatening
to kidnap and kill former President
Donald Trump if he refused to leave
the White House aft er losing the 2020
election.
Th omas Welnicki, 72, is awaiting his
arraignment in Brooklyn federal court
on a criminal complaint that was fi led
Saturday, Jan. 8, and unsealed Monday,
Jan. 10, that details how he fi rst made his
intention known in a July 2020 interview
with U.S. Capitol Police and in subsequent
phone calls to the Secret Service.
According to the criminal complaint,
Welnicki vowed to “acquire weapons” and
“take him down.”
Although the former president is not
identifi ed by name in the complaint, he is
referred to as “Individual 1,” according to
a footnote in the complaint that indicates
that “Individual 1” served as U.S. President
from Jan. 20, 2017, to Jan. 20, 2021.
Welnicki bragged about how easy it was
for him to acquire a fi rearm and added, “I
don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will stand
up to fascism,” during his interview with
Capitol Police.
On or about Jan. 4 of this year, Welnicki
called the Secret Service’s Long Island
offi ce from his own cellphone and left
two voice messages in which he threatened
to kill Trump as well as 12 unnamed
members of Congress.
“Oh yeah that’s a threat, come and arrest
me,” Welnicki said on the fi rst voicemail
message. “I will do anything I can to take
out Individual 1 and his 12 monkeys
… If I had the opportunity to do this in
Manhattan that would be awesome.”
Elnicki called the Secret Service’s New
York City Duty Desk three times from his
cellphone on Nov. 8 and identifi ed himself
by name each time, according to the complaint.
In the fi rst message, he repeatedly
referred to “Individual 1” as “Hitler” and
stated, “I will do everything I can to make
sure Individual 1 is dead.”
Welnicki allegedly called the duty desk
on Dec. 2 and stated, “the new Civil
War could break out and taking up arms
against the government is justifi ed when
ballots don’t matter.” He then added that
he owned a .32-caliber fi rearm.
Th e U.S. Th e Attorney’s Offi ce for the
Eastern District of New York provided no
additional comment.
Three Kings Day celebrated with gift giveaway at Corona Plaza
BY JULIA MORO
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Various community organizations came
together to host a gift giveaway celebrating
Th ree Kings Day on Th ursday, Jan. 6, at
Corona Plaza for the second year in a row.
Last year, the Th ree Kings Day event gave
out around 150 gift s. Th is year, nearly 450
toys, art kits, N-95 masks and other gift s
were handed out to families from the area.
In addition, Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz
donated about 250 toys to the event to help
families in her district celebrate the occasion.
“Tres Reyes is a tradition in Latino communities,
and even during a pandemic, we
have to fi nd opportunities where we can celebrate
traditions in a loving yet healthy way,”
Cruz said.
Sam Massol, the program director of
the Queens Economic Development
Corporation, said he hopes this gift giveaway
becomes an annual event but wants to
make sure that the programs they host meet
the community’s needs.
“If you were to ask any Latino, this is
something very integrated to our cultural
background,” Massol said. “We are programming
events like this and we want to
continue these sorts of events because this
is a way to connect the community together.
It’s about bringing in the merchants,
street vendors and all the diff erent
aspects of Corona at the plaza
to stimulate the local economy
there.”
Organizations like
QEDC, Queens
Museum, the Street
Vendor Project and
other organizations
honored the
holiday with this
event, while also
hoping to slowly
revamp Corona
Plaza.
Massol said
that Corona Plaza
has a lot of intersectional
challenges,
from homelessness,
rodents to
crime — which the
pandemic has only
exacerbated. But Massol has been working
to combat those issues and make the plaza a
safe, cultural hub.
“Th is is about bringing the community
together in a positive way to
eff ect positive changes we need to
see in the plaza,” Massol said.
“We have the whole gamut of
urban challenges right now.
But this is something that
the community is very
much interested in changing
and we’re interested in
harnessing all this wonderful
energy that the
community has to make
those changes.”
Cruz said that the
vision for Corona Plaza
has not yet been carried
out, but thinks that with
more events like the Th ree
Kings Day celebration, it
could be delivered.
“I’m hopeful that in the future
we’ll see the kind of leadership in
the community that will really help
us carry through a Corona Plaza that is
for the people, that has cultural events, fun
events, educational events and see that to
fruition,” Cruz said.
Photo by Julia Moro
Several local organizations
partnered for the Three Kings Day
celebration and gift giveaway in Corona
Plaza on Thursday, Jan. 6.
Photo courtesy of White House
A 72-year-old Rockaway Beach man was charged with threatening to kill former President Donald Trump if he didn’t leave the White House last year.
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
