A 24-year-old Clearwater, Kansas man is in federal custody, charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump ahead of the president’s Monday night rally outside Wichita, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.
Federal prosecutors said Jaden J. Read was charged by criminal complaint on Saturday, Oct. 17, with one count of making threats against the president, and that authorities arrested him in Clearwater the same day, according to a Justice Department news release issued Monday.
Man said he ‘mapped out roofs’ to shoot Trump at Kansas rally, charge alleges https://t.co/fYKrsPSove
— kansasdotcom (@kansasdotcom) October 19, 2026
The case began with a tip. On Oct. 15, a Crime Stoppers tip led authorities to a Facebook comment Read allegedly left under a KAKE News article about Trump’s planned Oct. 19 visit to Wichita, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“Let’s shoot Trump honestly, where’s our shooter? I’m tired of living this money life,” Read wrote, according to the release. Prosecutors said he immediately followed that with a second comment on the same article: “I just got a 308 and 305 round and I’m killing this pedo.”
Investigators then found two more comments under a separate KWCH 12 News article about the visit, according to the Justice Department. “Can we shoot him in Kansas please I will myself,” one read, prosecutors said. A minute later, according to the release, Read posted: “IK where your speech will be. Already mapped out roofs around. Finna get kirked since yall couldn’t help him.”
The Wichita Eagle reported that the “get kirked” line likely refers to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who the paper noted was killed last year by a rooftop sniper while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser drew a firm line in announcing the charge. “Political violence and threats of political violence will not be tolerated,” Kriegshauser said in the release. “The first Amendment allows for robust disagreement but there are constraints. I caution people to stay within the bounds of constitutionally protected speech.”
The U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Wichita Police Department investigated the case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Read will remain in federal custody until a detention hearing, prosecutors said. The Wichita Eagle reported that federal court records listed no hearing date and no attorney for Read as of Monday afternoon, and that he faces up to five years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 if convicted.
The charge is an allegation, and Read is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The Justice Department’s announcement does not say whether any weapon was recovered.
The threats targeted a high-stakes stop. Trump traveled to Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City, just outside Wichita, on Monday to boost Republican Roger Marshall’s Senate reelection bid in a close race against Democrat Adam Hamilton, according to The Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star. Fox News reported that Read’s arrest came two days before the president’s scheduled visit.
The case is the latest reminder of the security challenge surrounding the president’s campaign travel, more than two years after the July 2024 attack on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which Fox News referenced in its coverage of the Kansas charges.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Kansas: Kansas man charged by complaint for making threats against the President
- Fox News: Kansas man mapped rooftops near Trump speech site, threatened to shoot president: DOJ
- The Wichita Eagle: Man said he ‘mapped out roofs’ to shoot Trump at Kansas rally, charge alleges
- The Wichita Eagle: Live updates from Trump’s Kansas rally
- The Wichita Eagle on X
Sources cited
Sources
- Original post: kansasdotcom (@kansasdotcom) on X, Oct 19, 2026
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