Main: President Donald Trump attends the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). Inset: Derek S. Lopez (El Paso, Illinois Police Department).
Federal agents arrested a 27-year-old Illinois man who allegedly threatened to assassinate the president in a series of social media posts, including one in which he is accused of outright stating, “I”m going to kill Donald Trump.”
Derek S. Lopez, a former teaching assistant at Illinois State University, was taken into custody by federal agents this week and charged with one count of making threats against the president, authorities announced.
In a news release announcing Tuesday’s arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois said Lopez faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in federal prison.
According to the criminal complaint, authorities filed a complaint against Lopez with the FBI National Threat Operations Center on Sept. 15, stating that Lopez was making “concerning statements online.” The complaint alleged that Lopez’s posts to Facebook and Instagram appeared to be threats directed at the president and other federal authorities. The complainant forwarded several photos of the posts to authorities
During an Oct. 9 interview with federal agents, Lopez allegedly conceded that “what he was doing online was a little crazy,” but said he viewed that activity as “performance art” that was protected by the First Amendment. He further stated that he had “no intentions or plans to hurt or kill anyone,” saying he “viewed himself as non-violent, but believed that some people need to be killed.”
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During the interview, Lopez said he was just being “funny” when he allegedly commented on an Instagram post from the U.S. Secret Service about someone assassinating Trump during the government shutdown.
“This is the perfect time to kill the president!” Lopez wrote, per the complaint. “The Secret Service is down!”
Lopez also compared himself to Charlie Kirk, the controversial right-wing activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was assassinated last month.
“[Lopez] said if his words convince people to kill Nazis then it is better than killing people who didn’t deserve it,” the complaint states. “He then compared himself to Charlie Kirk saying they are both innocent if their words don’t commit the crimes, but if people act off their words, it is on the people for committing the crimes not his words.”
After the interview with authorities, Lopez allegedly continued to make provocative posts online, even creating a parody account of the FBI agent who interviewed him in which he posted as “Agent Smith.”
One of Lopez’s alleged Instagram posts from Oct. 26 was a video that prosecutors described as follows:
The post contained a video of an unknown male (UM1) appearing to cock a handgun, walk down a road, and then point the gun. When UM1 pointed the gun, an image popped up of President Donald Trump wearing a crown with what appeared to be red cross hairs on his forehead. Then multiple images of FBI Director Kash Patel popped up in the background with a video of an unknown male (UM2) dancing.
The following day, Lopez allegedly posted to X, formerly Twitter, writing, “I’m gonna kill Donald Trump, idaf.”
Lopez earlier this month was arrested by local police at Illinois State University for allegedly “flipping” a Turning Point USA table on the campus. Video of the incident went viral and resulted in Lopez losing his position with the university.
Photo allegedly showing Lopez flipping over a Turning Point USA table at Illinois State University earlier this month (YouTube/Times of India).
Lopez is currently being held in custody by U.S. Marshals and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Hanna for his detention and preliminary hearings on Nov. 3, records show. He is being represented in the matter by a federal public defender.
Earlier this week, a former U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant with sharpshooter qualifications who was also accused of threatening to kill the president in social media posts was acquitted after his defense attorney convinced a jury that his statements were constitutionally protected speech.
