WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 21, 2021 3
Court employee from Ridgewood booked for making
threats to kill Democrats following Capitol attack: Feds
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@QNS.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Federal agents arrested a court employee from
Ridgewood who allegedly made violent threats
online to assassinate Democratic offi cials in the
wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob
of angry Trump supporters.
Brendan Hunt, 37, was picked up at his home on
Tuesday, Jan. 19, a day before the inauguration of
President-elect Joe Biden.
Federal prosecutors said Hunt, a full-time
employee of the New York State Office of Court
Administration and part-time actor/filmmaker,
allegedly posted threats targeting Biden as well
as other prominent Democrats, including House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, incoming Senate Majority
Leader Charles Schumer and Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Hunt was picked up as part of a nationwide law
enforcement sweep aimed at catching the participants
of the Jan. 6 Capitol coup attempt. Scores of
suspects have already been arrested, including
several other New York City residents, in the
nearly two-week-old investigation.
According to the criminal complaint, Hunt allegedly
made repeated violent threats on Facebook,
Parler and Bitchute between Dec. 6, 2020, and Jan.
12, 2021, using primarily his online alias, xrayultra
— which is also the name of his filmmaking
business and website.
In a Dec. 6 Facebook post, he allegedly called
on Trump to seek “actual revenge on democrats”
(sic) and to “hold a public execution of pelosi, aoc,
schumer etc. And if you dont do it, the citizenry
will.” (sic)
Hunt allegedly repeated similar threats on
that same day in sharing on his Facebook feed a
New York Daily News article about the arrest of a
Staten Island pub manager who allegedly ran over
a member of the New York City Sheriff’s Office
with his vehicle.
Two days after the Capitol attack, on Jan. 8, Hunt
allegedly took to the video-sharing site Bitchute
to post an 88-second diatribe calling again for the
murder of Congress members.
“We need to go back to the U.S. Capitol when all
of the Senators and a lot of the Representatives
are back there, and this time we have to show up
with our guns,” Hunt purportedly said, calling on
viewers to “slaughter these motherf—ers” around
“the inauguration of” Biden.
Federal agents traced the origin of where the
video was uploaded — from Hunt’s cellphone,
located near his Ridgewood home.
Four days later, on Jan. 12, Hunt allegedly repeated
a call to arms on “jan 20” (sic), the date of
Biden’s inauguration, in responding to a Parler
message from disgraced former National Security
Adviser Michael Flynn. The message came from
Hunt’s Parler account name, xrayultra.
Hunt is charged with threatening to murder a
United States official, a violation of Title 18 U.S.
Code Section 115(a)(1)(b), a crime punishable by
up to 20 years in prison.
According to WABC-TV, the New York State
Court Administration has indefinitely suspended
Hunt without pay, pending the ongoing
investigation.
Brendan Hunt is accused of making online
threats to kill Democratic members of Congress
before and after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol coup
attempt, according to federal prosecutors.
Photo via Xrayultra Studios
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