A Kansas man was indicted on federal charges Tuesday for allegedly making online threats directed at an upcoming Pride event in Nashville, Tennessee.
On April 26, Joshua Hensley — also known as “Josh Echo” — allegedly commented on a sponsored Facebook post for Nashville Pride with a slur against the LGBTQ community and threatened to “make shrapnel pressure cooker bombs” and “commit a mass shooting” at the June event, according to a Department of Justice indictment.
The indictment that was unsealed Tuesday morning charges Hensley with two counts of transmitting an interstate threat to kidnap or injure. If convicted, Hensley would face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI arrested Hensley at his Kansas residence on Thursday, and he appeared before a judge, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. Hensley is scheduled to appear at a detention hearing on Friday.
The FBI is still investigating the case, which will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nani M. Gilkerson and Kyle Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“We will not tolerate hate-based, threats of violence designed to intimidate Tennesseans,” U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis said in a statement on Tuesday. “We will continue to work with our partners at the FBI to ensure that the civil rights of all persons are protected.”
According to the Tennessean, the Nashville Pride Festival and Parade coordinators are aware of the threats and will be working with private security and local, state and federal entities to ensure public safety.
“No credible threat existed or currently exists to the Nashville Pride Parade & Festival,” Nashville Pride media coordinator Brady Ruffin told the Tennessean on Tuesday. “We look forward to creating a safe and secure space for the LGBTQ+ community to be authentically and vulnerably themselves this weekend at the Nashville Pride Parade and Festival.”
Hensley’s indictment follows a slew of other attacks on the LGBTQ community across the U.S.
In May, Target employees were threatened over the store’s Pride Month merchandise, and stores reportedly faced bomb threats in at least five states this month.
Several drag story events have also been recently targeted by right-wing extremist groups. This weekend, dozens of LGBTQ Pride flags were torn and ripped at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, marking the third act of anti-LGBTQ vandalism there this month.
Meanwhile, conservative lawmakers have pushed nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ bills in U.S. states aiming to ban drag shows, gender-affirming care for minors and more.