(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Another incident of violence and threats being directed against Republicans in the wake of President Joe Biden’s Red Rally and insistent gaslighting by a MAGA-demonizing media unfolded in Illinois, where vile messages and death threats were made against Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey.
Police on Wednesday arrested 21-year-old Scott Lennox of Chicago and charged him with three felonies after he called Bailey’s campaign office and left a threatening voicemail, according to the Post Millennial.
“I’m going to skin Darren Bailey alive and feed his family to him. I know where Bailey lives, sleeps and the school he works at,” Lennox allegedly spewed on the voicemail, WGN News reported.
“I’m going to make him scream and suffer. He better kill himself and if he doesn’t, I’m going to kill him.”
Apropos Biden's speech last night, a guy called IL GOP Gov candidate Darren Bailey's office, threatened to skin him alive & feed his family to him. After police showed up to interrogate him, he bragged to his friends that he was a "political terrorist." https://t.co/xXjVJq9ndn pic.twitter.com/3cMmdTKPiT
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) November 3, 2022
“Apropos Biden’s speech last night, a guy called IL GOP Gov candidate Darren Bailey’s office, threatened to skin him alive & feed his family to him,” noted RealClearPolitics co-founder Tom Bevan.
“After police showed up to interrogate him, he bragged to his friends that he was a “political terrorist.”
Bailey called for an end to the inflammatory rhetoric that is leading to threats against Republicans who have been vilified as dangerous threats to democracy.
“Divisive, inflammatory and misleading rhetoric is driving hatred across our state as some attempt to label political opponents as dangerous threats. Whether we agree or disagree on policies, we are all Americans,” he said.
“I pray this young man gets the help he needs. We must bring our state together and fight for the safety and prosperity of every Illinoisan.”
Don Bolduc, Lee Zeldin, Darren Bailey…three statewide GOP candidates who've been threatened or attacked by individuals subsequently arrested. Whose rhetoric is responsible for this violence?https://t.co/9vkjqMkAvK
— Dan Proft (@DanProft) November 3, 2022
Lennox was charged by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office with harassment by electronic communications, telephone harassment and threatening a public official.
Scott Lennox, 21 from Chicago charged with leaving a death threat on Darren Bailey’s office phone threatening to “mutilate and kill” him. @DarrenBaileyIL calls the voicemail “vulgar and disturbing” @ABC7Chicago pic.twitter.com/J2lAwY7k0T
— Craig Wall ABC 7 (@craigrwall) November 2, 2022
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Lennox also left other vile messages on the voicemail.
“[Bailey] is a piece of white a** racist sh*t… The candidate teaching all this mother f*cking misinformation is going to die,” Lennox said.
“I’m going to skin Darren Bailey alive, making sure he is still alive, and I’m going to feed his f*cking family to him as he is alive and screaming in f*cking pain,” he added.
Lennox left the voicemail on Oct. 28 at 10:27 p.m., after he saw one of Bailey’s political ads at a bar, according to the prosecutors.
Caller ID led the Illinois Secretary of State Police to Lennox immediately, CNN reported. He was arrested on Monday at 10 p.m. in his home. Illinois State Police then interviewed Lennox and deemed he was a credible threat to the politician.
Bailey and his family were then asked to avoid public appearances while providing extra security for them and placing the schools affiliated with Bailey and his family on a soft lockdown, the Sun-Times reported.
While Lennox was in police custody, cops saw a series of Snapchat messages the suspect sent to his friends, in which he bragged that he was a “political terrorist.”
“I feel so f*cking accomplished,” he wrote after hearing in the news that Bailey had to be protected from him by the state.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Susana Ortiz set his bail at $75,000 on Wednesday, placed him on electronic monitoring, and forbade him from contacting Bailey and those who are associated with him in any way, shape, or form.
“It simply will not be tolerated,” she said.
Headline USA’s Mark Pellin contributed to this report
