Combat Veteran Found Guilty for Threatening Trump’s Life

A jury in Arizona has found a Marine combat veteran guilty of threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump using an M16 rifle, stating he aimed for “head shots, not the ear.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona confirmed to Law&Crime that Rene Ortiz, hailing from Casa Grande, was convicted on Monday of making threats against the president. This decision came after a four-day trial held in Phoenix. A date for his sentencing has yet to be determined.

Ortiz faced trial following his arrest in early 2025. He was accused of issuing threats to assassinate Trump during November and December of 2024, a time when Trump was president-elect.

According to a federal complaint, Ortiz left threatening documents at federal courthouses in Phoenix and Tucson. In these documents, he initially demanded that the courts “execute the newly elected POTUS by firing an M-16A2 Service Rifle with a magazine of 6 rounds.” He threatened to carry out the action himself if his demands were ignored.

The complaint further details Ortiz’s threat: “The execution shall commence 3 days upon notice to the Defendants to this action,” specifying that “6 rounds to be shot will be from 300 or 500 yards away from the target.”

Ortiz warned of severe consequences for non-compliance, stating, “ANY REFUSAL OF ANY RIGHT, MR. ORTIZ WILL BE ENTITLED TO SHOT THE INCOMING FRAUDULENT ELECTED POTUS FROM 300 OR 666 YARDS AWAY WITH 666 ROUNDS FOR AN M-16A2 SERVICE RIFLE AT THE INAGURATION [sic].” He claimed to have an “Expert Badge” in marksmanship, adding to the gravity of his threats.

Federal agents questioned Ortiz about the threats on Dec. 5, 2024, at the Secret Service Phoenix field office. During the interview, Ortiz admitted to making them.

“When asked if Ortiz plans to shoot [Trump], Ortiz responded, ‘If my demands are not met,’” according to the complaint. “Ortiz explained his grievance is with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ortiz explained while employed at the VA they promised to pay for his schooling if he quit working for them. Ortiz quit working at the VA and began school but has not been reimbursed for his education.”

During his trial, Ortiz’s family said he was upset after being fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the Tucson Sentinel. He began drafting lawsuits to challenge his termination and hand-delivered documents to the courthouses with help from family members, who drove him and said they had no idea what he was actually saying in the documents.

“Mountains and mountains of paperwork,” Ortiz’s eldest son, Ryun Ortiz, reportedly testified.

Ortiz’s public defenders argued that he did not mean what he said about harming the president and insisted no danger was ever actually present, per court filings and testimony. They also claimed he suffers from schizoaffective disorder and borderline personality disorder. Ortiz’s defense filed a motion on June 5 to declare a mistrial.

In it, Ortiz’s lawyers claimed there is a “manifest necessity” for a mistrial because the court “limited defense counsel’s questioning” of defense witness Deputy U.S. Marshal Vladimir St. Louis, according to the U.S. Attorney’s response to the filing. St. Louis investigated similar threats to the U.S. attorney’s office in central California that Ortiz allegedly made two months before his arrest for the Trump threats.

For the California threats, U.S. Marshals decided not to arrest Ortiz because they believed he likely suffered from mental health issues. The judge overseeing his Trump threats case, however, refused to let St. Louis be questioned about the decision after federal prosecutors argued that it would “elicit irrelevant hearsay,” according to court filings.

“The questions were improper and testimony inadmissible,” prosecutors say in a June 8 response to Ortiz’s motion to declare a mistrial, which was filed on June 5. “There is no reason, much less a manifest necessity, to declare a mistrial here and now.”