The man accused of rushing Rep. Ilhan Omar and spraying her with a foul-smelling liquid previously set his Facebook profile picture to an image of President Donald Trump, according to CNN.
Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, is being held in the Hennepin County, Minnesota, jail on a third-degree assault charge in connection with the alleged attack during Omar’s town hall in Minneapolis. He is being held without bail.
Video of the incident aired on C-SPAN appears to show a man—later identified by police as Kazmierczak—standing up, running toward Omar and spraying her shirt with a syringe containing an unknown substance.
During her remarks, Omar called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), citing the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed by federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis.
CNN reported that a Facebook profile appearing to belong to Kazmierczak includes several political posts. In 2021, the account shared a post criticizing Omar, CNN said. More recently, CNN reported, the profile picture was changed to a photo of Trump speaking, and later to an image of Trump alongside Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
CNN also reported that the profile indicates Kazmierczak is the father of two daughters and describes himself as an “empty nester.”
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office released a mugshot of Kazmierczak showing a bearded man with brown hair, closely resembling the individual seen in the video.
After the man rushed toward Omar, security personnel quickly intervened, grabbing and tackling him before removing him from the building.
“He sprayed something,” someone can be heard saying in the video.
Omar then asked to continue the event, despite staff urging her to get checked out.
“Just give me 10 minutes. I beg you,” she said in the video. “Please don’t let them have the show.”
