The man who rushed at Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and sprayed her with liquid Tuesday night during a town hall in Minneapolis faces a federal assault charge.<\/b>
\nThe man who rushed at Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and sprayed her with liquid Tuesday night during a town hall in Minneapolis faces a federal assault charge.
The 55-year-old, identified by police as Anthony Kazmierczak, was tackled to the ground and arrested. Omar was not injured.
Omar, a Democrat, was calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be abolished and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign.
Kazmierczak was sitting in the audience and ran up to her, spraying her with a substance and yelling, the complaint says. The liquid stained Omar’s clothes and may have reached her eye.
According to a field test, Kazmierczak sprayed Omar with a combination of apple cider vinegar and water. The liquid was sent to a state laboratory for further testing.
Body camera video of the incident shows Kazmierczak saying something to the effect of \u00ab\u00a0I squirted vinegar\u00a0\u00bb while he was being arrested.
The complaint says the investigator interviewed a close associate of Kazmierczak, who told authorities that a few years ago, Kazmierczak was speaking to a person on the phone about Omar and said \u00ab\u00a0Somebody should kill that b****.\u00a0\u00bb
In an interview with WCCO Wednesday, Omar said that she is \u00ab\u00a0really OK.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0What happened to me is not OK, but they picked the wrong person\u00a0\u00bb, Omar said. \u00ab\u00a0I am not one to be intimidated.\u00a0\u00bb
Omar continued to speak and take questions at the town hall for almost 30 minutes after the incident.
The incident comes as U.S. Capitol Police report the number of threats they’re investigating against members of Congress, their families and staff is on the rise. There was a 58% increase in number of cases from 2024 to 2025.<\/p>\n