After reportedly driving halfway across the nation and telling federal officials he meant to assassinate President Joe Biden as part of a spiritual mission decreed by God, a southern Kansas man faces two criminal counts.
In a probable cause statement filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland on Friday, Scott R. Merryman, a construction contractor from Independence, Kansas, is accused of threatening the President and a federal agent. Merryman is accused of making the threats through a series of phone calls and Facebook posts this week.
Merryman notified officials in Independence, Kansas, on Jan. 25 that he was going to Washington, DC, according to a criminal complaint written by the US Secret Service.
A federal agent apprehended Merryman in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Hagerstown, Maryland. According to court papers, he had an ammunition clip with three live bullets on him, but no handgun. His bag also purportedly included a spotter scope.
Investigators looked at several posts on Merryman's Facebook page. The previous posts discussed a trip to Washington, D.C. to bring about change across the United States, before focusing more specifically on the president.
“I believe Joe Biden is the AntiChrist now and he will suffer a fatal head wound. I’ll deal that blow in Christ’s name,” one of the messages says, adding: “I’m fighting for the Souls of this Great Nation.”
In a follow-up post that occurred after the encounter in Maryland, Merryman says he plans to “jump a fence” when he arrives in Washington and “slay the Anti-Christ,” according to court records.