A Pennsylvania man is in custody after threatening to kill Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia, according to authorities.<\/p>\n
The threats were allegedly targeted at Rep. Garcia, D-Long Beach, by 43-year-old Richard Griffin, who U.S. Capitol police say has \u201ca history of emailing a Congressional office, as well as various government officials and law enforcement agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
A statement issued by Garcia\u2019s office on Tuesday said the suspect allegedly sent a message to his congressional office, \u201cstating that he was going to travel to Washington, D.C. to kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin was spotted by a USCP Rapid Response Team around 12:30 p.m. that day \u2014 Election Day \u2014 and \u201cwas stopped before he could attempt to go through security screening at the Delaware Avenue Door of the Russell Senate Office Building,\u201d according to a news release.<\/p>\n
Garcia was in California at the time, his office later announced.<\/p>\n
Griffin had been the subject of a be-on-the-lookout bulletin published by the USCP\u2019s Threat Assessment Section on Oct. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not tolerate any threats to the members of Congress, their families or staff,\u201d U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said in a statement. \u201cOur officers, agents and professional staff work relentlessly to bring offenders to justice. We have a zero-tolerance stance when it comes to threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia has risen in national prominence recently, becoming the top Democrat on the House of Representatives primary investigative committee<\/a>, where he has repeatedly hammered on the Justice Department to release all files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>. <\/p>\n