Police in Melbourne, Fla., are holding a man over threats he made on Facebook to kill President Barack Obama, reported Florida Today.

On Nov. 1, Christopher Castillo wrote on the social network that if Obama were re-elected, he would “hunt down” the president and “watch the life disappear from his eyes.” When someone commented that the threat itself was a federal offensive, he responded that it was a “promise.”

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Castillo, a 28-year-old army veteran, also made threats during questioning with U.S. Secret Service agents and county investigators two days after the elections, threatening to beat up President Obama. But Castillo’s father says the threats are meaningless, although he understands that “the Secret Service has to do what they have to do.”

But, he said, his son “was also under the impression his profile was private, he was trash talking with his friends and no one else can see them.”

“He barely has enough money to get back and forth to work,” he said, “how’s he going to do anything to the president?”

[Image via AFP]