Brevard County, Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey during a press briefing with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday, June 12, 2025 (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)
A sheriff in Florida has issued a stark warning to any protester who turns violent or poses a threat to law enforcement amidst widespread demonstrations against the Trump administration across the country.
In anticipation of the “No Kings” protests set for Saturday, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey cautioned protesters to refrain from violence within his jurisdiction, stating clearly that if they do, “We will kill you graveyard dead.”
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“Throw a brick, a firebomb or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at,” Ivey threatened on Thursday at a press conference alongside Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. “Because we will kill you graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.”
Ivey acknowledged peaceful protests “are part of our democracy — we invite people to share their opinions.” However, “if you let it turn violent…” he added before letting out a dramatic sigh, “you do not want to do that in Brevard County … and I believe I can speak for my fellow sheriffs around the rest of the state.”
Ivey added that he doesn’t want to “hear any whining later saying, ‘we didn’t know,”” pointing to the protests that have broken out in other cities, such as New York City, Chicago, and most notably, Los Angeles.
In California’s largest city, anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests have captured significant national interest. After ICE agents swept across the city last week, targeting suspected undocumented immigrants, demonstrators called for the agents to leave and sought to obstruct them, with protests at times turning violent.
The day after the widespread Los Angeles protests began, President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to the city, an action Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom decried. The governor sued the Trump administration, and, on Thursday, a federal judge sided with him, ruling the deployment exceeded the president’s statutory authority and was unconstitutional. However, minutes later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the judge’s order, allowing Trump to keep the California National Guard deployed for now.
During Thursday’s press conference, the Brevard County sheriff and Uthmeier spoke from a podium reading: “Florida — the anti-riot state.” The county has a population of about 650,000 people, and at least two protests are planned in the county for Saturday, according to Florida Today, with several others reportedly planned in neighboring counties.
The “No Kings” protests were organized by the 50501 Movement, a movement of grassroots organizers that formed after Trump’s inauguration this year. “Join us in the fight to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach,” their website reads, declaring themselves as peaceful and that “violence of any kind will not be tolerated.”
Coinciding with the planned protests is Trump’s 79th birthday on Saturday, as well as an Army parade in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the U.S.’s 250th birthday.
