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A reserve U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant was staying at a campground in Mineral Wells earlier this month when he sent a text message to a former military teammate, federal law enforcement authorities allege.
“I don’t care you are FBI. I am going to cut your head off,” Bill Grannell wrote to the former colleague, who now works as an FBI special agent in Newark, N.J., according to another special agent who investigated the message. Grannell implied that he would put the body part on a fence post.
Grannell, who is 45, was diagnosed with schizophrenia earlier this year. In connection with the beheading threat, he was arrested on suspicion of making an interstate threatening communication. Magistrate Hal Ray at a hearing on Monday granted the Dallas-Fort Worth U.S. Attorney’s Office motion to detain Grannell at a jail.
Grannell has made other threats this year, beginning five months ago, according to the account of an FBI special agent that is described in a criminal complaint.
In March, Grannell made threats on social media and via text toward his previous coworkers, a high-level U.S. Defense Department official, and government buildings in Virginia, according to the complaint. Grannell also made threats when he was in Fairfax County, Virginia, authorities allege.
Grannell was taken into custody on May 14 after trying to access the Pentagon through its visitor center, according to the complaint. During an Army Criminal Investigative Division interview, Grannell said that he had multiple weapons in his vehicle at the time of his arrest. He was released at some point after arrest.
In May and June, Grannell made other threats toward former Special Forces teammates via text, phone and on his Instagram account, according to the complaint.
The FBI special agent who received the threat said he fears for the lives of himself and his family and takes the threat seriously because he knows of Grannell’s capabilities.
Grannell refused medication or treatment for schizophrenia during his time at a hospital earlier this year, according to the complaint. Grannell was discharged and went to the San Antonio area sometime later.
Before his arrest, Grannell appears to have been transient, possibly living at a campground in Round Mountain, Texas. Grannell is also associated with an address in Dallas.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.