The countdown and death threats: The man arrested on suspicion of planning to harm Ben Shapiro

A 29-year-old man from Kansas was arrested in Florida on suspicion of publishing anti-Semitic threats to murder commentator Ben Shapiro, including a countdown pointing to Yom Kippur as the target date. The suspect, Corby Aaren Stroud, is being held in Palm Beach County. According to the suspicion, the posts were published on a now-deleted X account, and the investigation led to him using information from X, Google, and Starlink.

Corby Aaren Stroud, 29, from Kansas, was arrested in Florida on suspicion of publishing anti-Semitic threats to murder Jewish-American commentator Ben Shapiro. According to the suspicion, Stroud posted on a now-deleted X account a countdown pointing to Yom Kippur as the target date, along with explicit references to Shapiro being Jewish and anti-Semitic expressions. He is being held at the Palm Beach County jail. According to court documents, probable cause was found to charge him with 23 counts of written or electronic threats to kill or cause harm, and the prosecution seeks to enhance the charges due to the anti-Semitic motive. The posts were allegedly published between July 31 and August 2. The investigation led to Stroud using information obtained from X, Google, and satellite internet provider Starlink. Stroud admitted that three X accounts belong to him. The accounts also contained threats against President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and podcaster Joe Rogan. Shapiro told investigators that his head of security alerted him after intelligence personnel located the posts. The threat takes on added severity against the backdrop of political violence in the US, particularly the murder of Charlie Kirk a year ago.