MINNEAPOLIS — An Illinois man has been charged with threatening in a media post to kill Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Caden J. Sluder, 22, of Oglesby, a remote town of 3,700 people 100 miles west of Chicago. The arrest warrant was widely distributed to law enforcement agencies, but Sluder was not located immediately. The posts attacked Flanagan for recognizing that transexual people have human rights. Excerpts from the posts. as cited in the criminal complaint:
> “You should be genuinely shot and killed.”
> “You should be strung up by the neck.”
> “Children’s blood is on your hands and soon it will be coming out of your mouth and fucking throat as we beat you.”
The first threatening post was in response to Flanagan having expressed condolences to families of children who were killed and wounded in a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis last week. The shooter, who committed suicide at the scene, was transexual. The posts were on the social media platform X from a user showing as “lfoke7594.” Police asked X to suspend the user. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension meanwhile traced the address to Sluder.
Earlier: Mayor: “Let’s not lose our sense of humanity”
Flanagan. Lieutenant governor since 2019. Currently seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. She is a former legislator and Minneapolis School Board member. She is Catholic and has one child. She supports transgender rights and gender-affirming care for transgender adults and youth