This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A western New York man has been charged with threatening to kill US representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

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Federal prosecutors announced on Friday that Patrick Carlineo Jr was arrested after placing a threatening call to Omar’s office in Washington DC last month.

The FBI said in a criminal complaint Carlineo called Omar a “terrorist” and threatened to shoot her. The bureau also said Carlineo sounded angry during the call but “spelled his name correctly and provided contact information” to a staffer.

Carlineo told the FBI he is a patriot, “loves the president and that he hates radical Muslims in our government”, the complaint says.

Authorities did not say when Carlineo was arrested. Carlineo’s attorney declined to comment.

Omar met with backlash for remarks she made earlier this year about Israel, including comments that American supporters of Israel are pushing people to have “allegiance to a foreign country”.

Some people said Omar’s comments were antisemitic. She apologized, saying “antisemitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes”.

Omar, a Somali American, has also received Islamophobic and racist comments.