One or more anonymous people, apparently out of Knoxville, allegedly and recently mailed death threats to members of the Tennessee Republican Party’s State Executive Committee — at each of their home addresses.
Tennessee GOP spokeswoman Delaney Dickey told The Tennessee Star in an email Monday that party officials have encouraged members to contact their local enforcement agencies.
The Star did not see any of the threats, but three of the 66 State Executive Committee members on Monday described receiving the same type of letter, about six pages, postmarked out of Knoxville.
“It was a crazy thing. It was like they had typed something and then had written over the top of it. It reminded me of those manifestos that these killers used to have. It was a weird thing, and it didn’t make sense,” said Executive Committee member Betty Fain.
“All I could get out of it was that ‘I’m going to kill you’ and ‘We’re going to kill you.’”
Executive Committee member Bobby Wood said his death threat arrived in the mail about 20 minutes before The Star called him Monday.
“It’s hard to understand. The writer says they are the great-grandson of Robert E. Lee. It’s both typed and handwritten. A lot of vulgar language. And it says of all Republicans ‘We will kill you all,’” Wood said.
“To me it is just a fanatical thing that some demented person has sent out.”
Executive Committee member Rob Ailey, meanwhile, said he turned his letter over to the State Republican Party and didn’t want to say more.
Matthew Coleman, another Executive Committee member, said the same person sent a letter to his home, but he had not yet opened it.
Wood said he doesn’t believe that members of ANTIFA, Black Lives Matter or other prominent left-leaning organizations mailed the letters.
“I feel like this is the work of one person,” Wood said.
“He might be dangerous to an individual, but not to a group.”
The Tennessee Republican Party’s website lists the home address for each Executive Committee member.
To protect herself, Fain said she just bought a gun.
“Partially because of this letter,” Fain said.
“And also because of everything going on right now.”
When asked to elaborate, Fain said she was referring to all of the nation’s civil unrest.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
