Southern Arizona man arrested after alleged threats against Trump as candidate visited border

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in front of the US-Mexico border, Thursday, Aug 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

BISBEE, Ariz. — A southern Arizona man was arrested for allegedly making death threats against Donald Trump on social media, authorities said Thursday, the same day the Republican former president and 2024 candidate was in the area to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Cochise County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect as Ronald Lee Syvrud, 66, from the city of Benson. It's in the same county as the border area that Trump was visiting in the afternoon and that his running mate Sen. JD Vance went to in recent weeks.

The sheriff's office said Syvrud was arrested around 2:30 p.m. during a traffic stop.

“As part of the operations plan in place for the visit of candidate Donald Trump on today’s date, locating this subject was a priority,” the agency said in a statement.

An online search failed to turn up any social media accounts in Syvrud's name or any contact information for him. His name did not immediately appear on the list of inmates at the county jail, and there was no word yet on whether he had a court date or an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The sheriff’s office said Syvrud was booked on several outstanding warrants in Wisconsin for driving under the influence and failure to appear in court, as well as a felony hit and run charge in Graham County, Arizona, and failure to register as a sex offender in Coconino County, Arizona.

Trump survived an assassination attempt July 13. This Wednesday, at his first outdoor rally since the attempt, he spoke from behind bulletproof glass in North Carolina at an event focused on national security.