Charges: Man who allegedly made threats to Capitol, Mayo Clinic had arsenal of guns
Charges: Man who allegedly made threats to Capitol, Mayo Clinic had arsenal of guns originally appeared on Bring Me The News.
A 22-year-old man from southern Minnesota is facing numerous weapons charges after witnesses told police that he allegedly threatened to deploy pipe bombs at the Mayo Clinic Gonda building in Rochester and at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Jonathan Julio Nique, of Austin, told police that he was joking about blowing up buildings. For that, he wasn't charged. But he is facing eight counts of possessing guns without serial numbers after police searched his home and found around 30 guns and loads of ammunition.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Mower County District Court, the person who reported Nique's behavior told authorities that he saw a "device that resembled a pipe bomb" in Nique's garage, while also accusing Nique of making comments about "how easy it is to make pipe bombs and that he could blow up a building if he wanted to."
The original reporting party and another witness told investigators that Nique owns about 30 guns, including some that are homemade and others that were made from a 3D printer. They also expressed concern about Nique allegedly saying "unhinged things," including that if he could blow up a building he would blow up the Mayo Clinic's Gonda Building in Rochester, the Olmsted County Government Center, the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, and a synagogue.
The charges state that the witnesses described Nique as having white nationalist views and accused him of making racist comments, including going into "detail about what he would do to Jewish people."
One of the witnesses said Nique "is anti-law enforcement and has said multiple times that he is not afraid to shoot police if he is pulled over and run." Nique allegedly openly talked about Ruby Ridge — the 1992 standoff in Idaho that left a U.S. Marshal, fugitive Robert Weaver and his wife and son dead — and that "if cops come to his house the whole neighborhood is in danger."
Nique is also accused of injuring his hands in May when a medicine bottle with match shavings in it "blew up ... and melted his hands," prompting Nique to seek treatment at a hospital. Nique told police that he burned his hand with matches.
When police executed a search warrant at Nique's home, they found around 30 guns, including eight "ghost guns' (no serial numbers) and "several" made from a 3D printer. Three of the ghost guns "appeared to be completely homemade," the complaint says.
After the search, Nique was read his rights at the Mower County Courthouse, where he "had just been arrested" for dropping two .22 caliber rounds inside the courthouse before a scheduled hearing.
Nique admitted to owning the guns but denied making a pipe bomb and practicing with explosives. He also told police that he was "joking" about blowing up buildings,
In total, Nique has been charged with eight counts of possession of a firearm without a serial number, and one count of possession of a dangerous weapon (bullets) in a courthouse.
This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'You missed': New details emerge as teens charged in Burnsville graduation night shooting
'You missed': New details emerge as teens charged in Burnsville graduation night shooting originally appeared on Bring Me The News. Two 18-year-olds from Bloomington and Shakopee are facing drive-by shooting charges in connection to an incident following the Burnsville High School graduation ceremony on Friday, June 6. Abdulahi Jama Ali, of Shakopee, and Abdikani Mukhtar Abdiwahab, of Bloomington, were charged Monday in Dakota County District Court, Ali is charged with two counts of drive-by shooting and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon. Abdiwahab is facing two drive-by shooting charges and other counts for aiding an offender. According to the criminal complaint, gunshots rang out west of Burnsville High School around 8:30 p.m., which was approximately 30 minutes after the graduation ceremony concluded. The shots were fired after police on scene had already broken up "several physical altercations" and attempted to disperse two groups who were "flashing gang signs towards each other." Ali and Abdiwahab were arrested after bystanders pointed police in the direction of the black Toyota Camry they were in. Abdiwahab was driving and Ali was in the front passenger seat, according to the complaint. While arresting the duo, officers heard a bystander shout, "Ksoe, you missed. You dumb ass. You missed." The complaint claims that Ali's nickname is "Ksoe." Further investigation revealed, allegedly, that the bystander who mocked "Ksoe" for missing was seen earlier — by witnesses in a vehicle behind the Toyota Camry — approach the Camry and talk with the duo before he "tried to punch the Camry" before the witness "saw the barrel of a gun come out of the front passenger window and open fire." Police found a handgun with an extended magazine under the front passenger seat. They also found one bullet casing on the driver's side floorboard and two more casings on the street by the vehicle. One bullet fragment was found lodged into the headlight of a vehicle parked nearby. Abdiwahab allegedly waived his Miranda rights and claimed he didn't shoot a gun and didn't know anything about a gun being shot. He also said he didn't know how a gun wound up in his car. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension collected DNA samples from the gun, Ali and Abdiwahab for analysis. No one was physically injured in the shooting. This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Clergy join protesters to keep the peace after weekend's destruction
Priests, rabbis and other religious leaders took to the streets of Los Angeles on Monday to help keep the peace amid protests that spiraled into violence over the weekend. The protests against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown intensified with the deployment of National Guard members, something local and state officials said has worsened, not improved, the situation. Additionally, hundreds of U.S. Marines are reportedly on the way to L.A. Waymo cars were torched, businesses were ransacked and numerous injuries were reported over the weekend's chaos. On Monday, however, protests were much more peaceful, and religious leaders — some of them partnered with the organization Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice — made a point to discourage violence by both police and protesters at the intersection of Alameda and Aliso streets in downtown Los Angeles. 'We're here to peacefully ask where the families are,' the Rev. Omega Burckhardt told KTLA's Kimberly Cheng. '¿Donde están los niños? Where are the people who've been detained? We're also here peacefully to support the right to protest, and we're here to help keep a peaceful presence for folks. We understand people are very angry and very upset, and we're here to provide a non-anxious presence.' Another religious leader directly spoke with police following what appeared to be one person's frustrations with officers. 'I was saying, 'Nobody needs to get shot today, nobody needs to get harmed today,'' the Rev. Eddie Anderson told Cheng. 'We can stand here and do our First Amendment right and nonviolently protest them ripping apart our families and taking away our loved ones. This is Black-brown solidarity and all religious faiths coming together. This is our Los Angeles and everyone deserves to be free in this city.' Police and Anderson appeared to come to a common understanding, as an officer thanked the minister for his assistance in keeping that agitated crowd member from trying to break through officers, while the minister thanked police for protecting protesters as part of their duties. 'We're not going to shoot anyone,' the officer affirmed. Anderson's colleagues added that their religious beliefs require them to stand up for immigrants and others targeted by the Trump administration. Rabbi Susan Goldberg said she was defending 'the deepest values of the Jewish community,' including 'compassion,' 'love' and 'care and support for the most vulnerable.' 'It's the most-repeated command inside our Torah to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger, and to treat them as family and to take care of them,' she said. Another clergy member, the Rev. Stephen 'Cue' Jn-Marie, continued to make a faith-based case for the protest, calling it 'a moral obligation' to stand against the immoral crackdown. 'In Scripture and in my faith tradition, it says the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself,' he said. 'They can't be separated; you have to do them together … In order to love God, I have to love you first, because you're created in the image of God in my faith tradition.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
3 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Mobile tolerance museum brings its anti-hate, anti-Semitism lessons to Jewish Festival in Morton Grove: ‘We need more of this'
The Greater Chicago Jewish Festival drew big crowds to the St. Paul Woods forest preserve area in Morton Grove Sunday for a day filled with community and family entertainment, and an exhibition from the Los Angeles-based Mobile Museum of Tolerance. The biennial festival included usual accoutrements of a summertime cultural festival, including dancing, live music, roasting food and crafts tables. But a standout was the security on hand. Signs near the entrance assured visitors undercover law enforcement would be patrolling, and uniformed officers from seven different agencies walked the grounds. The festival was fenced in and visitors had to pass through a security checkpoint. The mobile exhibit, which was displayed on a bus, is described by its owners as 'a self-contained classroom on wheels' that offered festival goers an opportunity to explore anti-hate and antisemitic workshops and other activities. The mobile museum arrived in the Cook County woods nearly two years after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. On May 21, two Israeli embassy staff workers were fatally shot in Washington, D. C. And more recently, an Egyptian man is facing attempted murder and federal hate crime charges, accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people in Boulder, Colorado June 1 who were holding their weekly demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. 'Right now, it's a very tense time for the Jewish community,' Alliya Kazan said as she left the bus Sunday. A regular visitor to libraries, schools and community events since it launched in 2021, the exhibit teaches visitors about two recent periods of injustice, the Holocaust and the pre-Civil Rights Movement era in the South. Videos showcase interviews with people who lived through these pivotal times. Modern voices are also featured alongside video and photos from those events. Kazan said there's too much miscommunication across cultures and the exhibit's videos show how communities have in the past worked together during times of intolerance. 'We need more of this in the political discourse,' she said. Videos featured as part of the mobile museum don't mention the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, much less the antisemitism that's happened since then, but visitors said that given all of the recent events, the exhibit's approach to history is welcoming. 'It was a very immersive experience,' Kazan said. 'It gives people the opportunity to have an immersive experience as opposed to just reading something and I think that's really great.' Another visitor, a man who didn't want to give his name given the political climate, said he hopes the mobile exhibit can bring people together. 'I'm here to be part of this, and in light of all the horror and tragedy that happens in the Jewish community, the community needs to stand together,' he said. The bus was accessible from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the festival. Elizabeth Blair, the mobile museum's education coordinator, said that after only a few hours of being open, hundreds of people had stopped by. She said that while the video presentation hasn't changed to incorporate specific recent world events, the headlines trickle into conversations that guests have after they visit the exhibit. 'In terms of people's comments, we're hearing people say we need this [mobile exhibit],' Blair said. 'They've been very supportive. … I've been sort of encouraged by the lack of pushback over the last few years.' The Mobile Museum of Tolerance will roll to the Grayslake Area Public Library June 19 the library's Juneteenth celebration.
