FILE – President Donald Trump speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File).
An Arizona jury convicted a Marine combat veteran who threatened to blow away President Donald Trump with an M16 rifle, saying he would do it with “rounds targeting the head, not the ear.”
The U.S. Attorney”s Office for the District of Arizona tells Law&Crime that Rene Ortiz, of Casa Grande, was found guilty on Monday of threats against the president following a four-day trial in Phoenix. His sentencing has not been scheduled yet.
Ortiz went on trial this week after being arrested in early 2025 for allegedly hurling assassination threats against Trump in November and December 2024 when he was the president-elect.
Ortiz threatened Trump in documents left at federal courthouses in Phoenix and Tucson, first asking the courts to “execute the newly elected POTUS by firing an M-16A2 Service Rifle with a magazine of 6 rounds” before threatening to do it himself if his demands weren’t met, according to a federal complaint.
“The execution shall commence 3 days upon notice to the Defendants to this action,” Ortiz said, noting how the “6 rounds to be shot will be from 300 or 500 yards away from the target,” per the complaint.
“ANY REFUSAL OF ANY RIGHT, MR. ORTIZ WILL BE ENTITLED TO SHOT THE INCOMING FRAUDULENT ELECTED POTUS FROM 300 OR 666 YARDS AWAY WITH 666 ROUNDS FOR AN M-16A2 SERVICE RIFLE AT THE INAGURATION [sic],” Ortiz threatened, adding that he had an “Expert Badge” in marksmanship.
Federal agents questioned Ortiz about the threats on Dec. 5, 2024, at the Secret Service Phoenix field office. During the interview, Ortiz admitted to making them.
“When asked if Ortiz plans to shoot [Trump], Ortiz responded, ‘If my demands are not met,'” according to the complaint. “Ortiz explained his grievance is with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ortiz explained while employed at the VA they promised to pay for his schooling if he quit working for them. Ortiz quit working at the VA and began school but has not been reimbursed for his education.”
During his trial, Ortiz’s family said he was upset after being fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the Tucson Sentinel. He began drafting lawsuits to challenge his termination and hand-delivered documents to the courthouses with help from family members, who drove him and said they had no idea what he was actually saying in the documents.
“Mountains and mountains of paperwork,” Ortiz’s eldest son, Ryun Ortiz, reportedly testified.
Ortiz’s public defenders argued that he did not mean what he said about harming the president and insisted no danger was ever actually present, per court filings and testimony. They also claimed he suffers from schizoaffective disorder and borderline personality disorder. Ortiz’s defense filed a motion on June 5 to declare a mistrial.
In it, Ortiz’s lawyers claimed there is a “manifest necessity” for a mistrial because the court “limited defense counsel’s questioning” of defense witness Deputy U.S. Marshal Vladimir St. Louis, according to the U.S. Attorney’s response to the filing. St. Louis investigated similar threats to the U.S. attorney’s office in central California that Ortiz allegedly made two months before his arrest for the Trump threats.
For the California threats, U.S. Marshals decided not to arrest Ortiz because they believed he likely suffered from mental health issues. The judge overseeing his Trump threats case, however, refused to let St. Louis be questioned about the decision after federal prosecutors argued that it would “elicit irrelevant hearsay,” according to court filings.
“The questions were improper and testimony inadmissible,” prosecutors say in a June 8 response to Ortiz’s motion to declare a mistrial, which was filed on June 5. “There is no reason, much less a manifest necessity, to declare a mistrial here and now.”
